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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Received               (JJ  t^-.. 
Accession  No. ...^y^Jl Jii.^   Class  No. ^!Jol>rA4^ 

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THE  TECHNIQUE 


OF  THE 


French  Alexandrine 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  WORKS  OF 


LECONTE  DE  LISLE,  JOSE  MARIA  DE  HEREDIA, 

FRANCOIS  COPPEE.  SULLY  PRUDHOMME, 

AND  PAUL   YERLAINE, 


DISSERTATION    PRESENTED    TO   THE   BOARD  OF   UNIVER- 
SITY STUDIES   OF  THE   JOHNS    HOPKINS   UNIVER- 
SITY. BALTIMORE,  FOR  THE   DEGREE   OF 
DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY. 


BY 


HUGO  PAUL  THIEME. 


THE  TECHNIQUE 


OF  THE 


French  Alexandrine 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  WORKS  OF 


LECONTE  DE  LISLE,  JOSE  MARIA  DE  HEREDIA, 

FRANCOIS  COPPEE.  SULLY  PRUDHOMME, 

AND  PAUL  YERLAINE, 


DISSERTATION    PRESENTED    TO   THE   BOARD  OF   UNIVER- 
SITY STUDIES   OF  THE   JOHNS    HOPKINS   UNIVER- 
SITY, BALTIMORE,  FOR  THE   DEGREE   OF 
DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY. 


BY 


HUGO  PAUL  THIEME. 


TO 
DR.  A.  MARSHALL  ELLIOTT 
THIS    MONOGRAPH    IS    RESPECT- 
FULLY DEDICATED. 

7  76-6-6' 


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THE  INLAND  PRESS 
ANN  ARBOR 


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PREFACE 


As  this  monograph  deals  only  with  the  technique  of  the 
French  Alexandrine,  a  discussion  of  questions,  such  as,  mute  e^ 
verse  accent,  word-stress,  etc.,  would  be  out  of  place.  In  the 
First  Part  I  have  endeavored  to  give  a  general  presentation  of 
the  rules  and  principles  of  versification  practiced  by  the  Class- 
ical, Romantic,  Parnassian  and  Symbolistic  schools  of  poetry. 
In  the  body  of  examples  I  have  shown  to  what  extent  these 
rules  are  followed  by  the  five  poets  whose  works  have 
been  examined.  It  would  be  out  of  the  sphere  of  this  work 
to  discuss  the  occasional  violations  of  these  principles  found 
in  the  verses  examined,  as  those  referring  to  the  question  of 
hemistich  or  cesura,  rime,  overflow,  mute  e,  etc.  I  have 
avoided  any  discussion  of  these  points,  noting  only  the  exam- 
ples which  are  found  in  the  works  of  the  five  poets  examined. 
The  Third  Part  deals  with  a  resume  of  Part  Two  and  gives  the 
innovations  in  modern  French  verse  found  in  Verlaine;  some 
of  these  may  be  found  occasionally  in  other  poets  before  Ver- 
laine, but  he  is  the  first  poet  in  the  nineteenth  century  to  in- 
troduce them  as  a  legitimate  form  of  verse.  I  have  avoided 
using  the  terms  accent  and  cesura  because  the  terms  pause  or 
rest  and  hemistich  answer  the  same  purpose,  and  in  order  to 
avoid  a  discussion  of  the  questions  of  verse- accent  and  cesura. 

Baltimore,  May,  1897. 


CONTENTS. 


PAET  I. 

I.     Classical  Alexandrine  Verse 5-6 

A.  Character  of  Classical  Verse 5 

B.  Causes  of  Transition  from  Classical  Form 

to  Romantic  Verse 5-6 

II.     Rules  for  the  Placing  of  Rests  in  the  Classical 

Verse 6-8 

III      Overflow 8 

IV.     Rime 8-11 

V.  Changes  in  the  Principles  of  Rime,  Overflow  and 
Rythm  in  the  Parnassian  and  Sym- 
bolistic Schools  of  Poetry 11-13 

A.  Causes  that  led  to  Changes 11-12 

B.  Reaction  and  Changes J  2-13 

VI.     Resume 13-14 

A.  Classicists 13 

B.  Romanticists 14 

C.  Parnassians 14 

D.  Decadents  and  Symbolists 14 

PART  II. 

Leconte  de  Lisle 15-26 

DeHeredia 26-30 

Coppee 30-39 

Prudhomme 39-42 

Verlaine 42-52 

Resume 53-66 

Bibliography 67-69 

Works  examined 70 

Biography ,  . . . , 71 


ERRATA. 

p.  5,  1.  13 — Dieu — cher 

p.  7,  I  42— first, 

p.  8,  1.  26 — solennelle;  1.  34,  are; 

p.  10,  1.  24:— etc., 

p.  11, 1.  36— fontC) 

p.  12,  1.  2 — soTimettre(.) 

p.  13,  note — Rimbawd 

p.  15, 1.  6 — cavalerie;  1.  12,  revolte;  1.  14,  ruisseZle 

p.  16,  1.  3—199;;  1.  10,  decha*ne;  1.  11,  lonienne;  1.  23,  fr^le. 

p.  18,  1.  16— Seul,;  1.  25,  Quand 

p.  19,  1.  10— qui 

p.  20,  1.  2 — pesante;  1.  3,  sacree,  134;  1.  11,  are;  1.18, Liaison; 

1.  20,  A;  1.  25,  La-bas;  1.  26,  affames 
p.  34,  1.  35— je 
p.  35,  1.  7 — qm 

p.  37,  1.  1 — Retard;  1.  6,  De«  croyauts;  1.  11,  the<^tre. 
p.  38,  1.  16— of  (of);  1.  37,  prodigue. 
p.  39,  1.  3 — entendais 
p.  44,  1.  13 — Rais  un  defunt 
p.  45,  1.  9 — Garo,;  1.  11,  Hymnes. 
p.  46, 1.  14 — tour  a  tour 
p.  47, 1.  26— veux-tu 
p.  48,  1.  7 — Eveneraents;  1.  29,  5fions 

p.  49,  1.  14 — remparts;  1.  18,  Reticence;  1.  31,  Eve'nements 
p.  50, 1.  12 — n'es-tu  pas 
p.  63,  1.  31— NtVelle;  1.  34,  egaie 
p.  64,  1.  23— n'est-ce 
p.  67,  1.  29— I'origine 


PART  L 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  OVERFLOW,  RIME,  AND  RYTHM 
IN  FRENCH  VERSE. 


1.     CLASSICAL  ALEXANDRINE  VERSE. 

A.     Character  of  Classical  Verse. 

The  principal  characteristic  of  Classical  -verse  lies  in  the 
regular  distribution  of  the  rythms  or  cuts;  that  is,  the  har- 
monious division  of  the  number  twelve  into  four  parts,  called 
rythms,  cuts  or  measures.  Of  these  we  have  nine  funda- 
mental divisions:  33B3,— 2424,-4242,— 2442 —4224,— 3324, 
—3342,— 2433 —4233.  There  are  thirty-six  different  com- 
binations of  rythms,  some  of  which  are  rarely,  others  never 
used. 

The  principal  defect  of  Classical  verse  lies  in  the  regular 
occurrence  of  the  rest  after  the  sixth  syllable.  The  logical 
sense  and  rest  determine  the  rythms;  thus,  in  the  formula 
3333,  the  rest  falls  on  each  third  syllable: 

Je  crains  Dieu-cher  Abner — et  n'  ai  point — d' autre  crainte. 

The  skillful  use  of  these  various  rythmic  combinations 
adds  greatly  to  the  beauty  of  the  verse.  The  Classical  school 
use  the  four-time  rythms  nearly  exclusively. 

B.     Causes  of  Transition  from  Classical  Forms  to  Roman- 
tic Verse. 

1.  The  constant  rest  at  the  cesura  which  becomes  mono- 
tonous. 

2.  The  inharmonious  division  of  the  number  twelve  by 
the  logical  sense.  Suppose  we  place  a  rest  at  the  hemistich 
in  the  following  verse:  ^  .         _ 

Et  I'on  vit  poindre-aux  yeux  du  faune-la  clarte  =  444       ^ 
and  read  it  according  to  a  four-time  measure: 
(    Et  I'on  vit-poindre  aux  yeux-du  faune-la  clarte  =  3324.    ■ 
We  thus  confound  the  rythmical  with  the  logical  sense, 
which  allows  no   stop  at  the  hemistich.     Such  verses  do  not 
occur  frequently  in  Classical  poetry. 


—  6  — 

3.  The  placing  of  rests  at  the  fifth  and  eleventh  syllables 
when  the  rythmical  rest  and  the  logical  sense  do  not  fall 
together,  which  causes  a  discord. 

Le  sang  de  vos  rois  erie  et  n' est  point  ecotite. 
Qui  ne  demandent  compte  a  ce  malheureuxfils. 

The  sonorous  syllable  rois  weakens  the  following  crie  at 
the  hemistich,  and  the  sonorous  reux,  before  fils,  weakens  the 
rime.  These  sonorous  syllables  rois  before  the  hemistich  and 
reux  before  the  rime  make  the  line  unrythmical. 

4.  The  most  natural  and  frequent  rythms  are  3333,  occur- 
ring about  22  per  cent.,  and  2433,  about  12  per  cent.  In  the  class- 
ical verse  we  must  have  a  four-time  movement;  but  three-time 
rythms  occur.  The  Romantic  system  has  three-time  rythms 
only;  however,  no  Romantic  poet  uses  either  Classic  or  Roman- 
tic system  exclusively.  The  Romantic  system  shortens  the 
measure  by  one -fourth,  and  we  have  instead  of  the  formula 
4224  1111  11  11  1111  the  formula  444, 1111 1111 1111,  short- 
ened by  one-fourth.  The  following  verse  will  show  the  differ- 
ence in  sense  if  read  according  to  either  Romantic  or  Classical 
system : 

Et  Thomas -appele  Didyme-etait  present =354. 
Et  Thomas- appele -Didyme-etait  present=3324. 

Following  the  first  reading  we  have:  Thomas,  called 
Didyme,  was  present;  whereas  the  second  gives  us:  Thomas 
called,  and  Didyme  was  present. 

The  Classical  system  has  a  choice  of  thirty-six  rythms 
the  Romantic  of  only  fifteen;  but  using  both  systems,  the  poet 
can  vary  the  verse  much  more  than  by  employing  either  system 
exclusively  and  give  verse  an  infinitely  greater  freedom  than 
the  Classicists  enjoy.  The  rythm  444  is  most  frequently  used, 
354  is  next  in  frequency.  The  use  of  rythms  forms  the  prin- 
ciple difference  in  the  verses  of  the  Classical  and  modern 
schools  of  poetry. 

II.  RULES  FOR  THE  PLACING  OF  RESTS  IN  THE 
CLASSICAL  VERSE. 

There  are  four  rests  in  every  verse,  two  of  which  are  sta- 
ble, the  one  at  the  hemistich,  the  other  at  the  rime;  the  re- 
maining two  are  placed  one  in  each  hemistich. 


1.  Never  place  two  rests  in  succession,  unless  so  placed  as 
not  to  cause  a  discord. 

a.  The  following  line  is  considered  unrythmical  by  some 
French  critics: 

Tonnait,  ouragan  froid  sous  les  portiques  sombres. 
An  of   ouragan   is    considered    too    sonorous  for   froid, 
thus  weakening  the  rest  at  the  cesura. 

h.     The  following  line  is  considered  rythmical: 
Glissait  comme  un  vent  frais  sous  les  portiques  sombres. 
Vent  is  not  as  sonorous  as  frais  and  is  a  monosyllabic 
noun,  followed  by  its  adjective. 

c.  The  following  line  has  a  well  placed  rest  on  the  fifth 
syllable:  Et  TEterni^e  s'owvre  apres  le  jugement. 

d.  The  following  line  has  a  poorly  placed  rest  on  the 
eleventh  syllable:  De  I'Esprit:  la  Foi  morte  et  la  Verite  ceinte 
— D'epines.  The  logical  sense  requires  a  rest  after  Verite,  and 
ceinte,  followed  by  D'epines  in  the  next  line,  loses  its  force  in 
the  rime  on  account  of  the  sonorous  epines. 

e.  Example  of  a  well  placed  rest  on  the  eleventh  sylla- 
ble: Cette  existence,  dont  I'epigraphe  fut:  Rien  =  4251  or 
471. 

2.  Place  no  rest  on  the  seventh  syllable  if  there  is  no 
rest  after  the  sixth,  as  this  destroys  the  Classic  rythm. 

Retiens  ceci:  \q  peux  tout,  mais  je  ne  peux  rien. =435. 

3.  Mute  e  must  not  be  placed  on  the  sixth  syllable: 
L'ingrat,  il  me  Idisse  cet  embarras  funeste  —  2352. 

4.  The  rest  at  the  hemistich  must  complete  the  logical 
sense  and  not  hold  it  in  suspense: 

Et  redire  avec  tant  de  plaisirs  ses  exploits  =  363. 

5.  Do  not  place  the  prepositions  a,  de,  dans,  sur,  par, 
pour  at  the  hemistich:  parmi,  autour,  avec,  etc.  at  the  hem- 
stich,  are  considered  faulty  verses. 

The  Classicists,  as  a  rule,  observed  these  rules,  hence  con- 
fined themselves  to  the  four-time  movement.  The  Romanti- 
cists broke  away  from  these  rules  and  gave  French  verse  much 
greater  freedom  by  using  both  four  and  three-time  systems. 
Whether  any  of  the  Romantic  poets  attempted  to  bring  out 
effects  by  the  use  of  these  two  systems,  has,  as  far  as  T  know, 
not  been  shown. 

However,  in  L.  de  Lisle,  de  Heredia  and  Verlaine  we  have 
passages  which  show  that  these  poets  used  the  two  systems  for 
certain  effects:  first;  in  the  regularity  of  the  use  of  the  classi- 


cal  rythms,  especially  de  Heredia;  cf.  p.  90-91;  second,  in  the 
relation  they  place  the  rythms  to  one  another,  especially  Ver- 
laine;  ef.  p.  173-76;  third,  in  the  harmony  of  rythmic  succes- 
sions, especially,  L.  de  Lisle;  cf.  p.  70-76.  The  aim  of  the 
Parnassian  school  was  to  make  the  character  of  the  verse  con- 
struction harmonize  with  the  chara,cter  of  the  logical  sense; 
for  example,  if  the  subject  was  to  be  a  weird  one,  they  would 
attempt  to  construct  the  verse  in  such  a  way,  as  to  bring  out 
the  weird  character  by  the  arrangement  of  words,  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  rime,  and  especially  by  the  placing  of  rests  or 
rythms.  In  Prudhomme  and  Coppee  I  have  found  no  series 
of  r^^thms  to  indicate  an  intentional  or  conscious  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  poet  for  effect. 

III.     OVEEFLOW. 

In  the  very  earliest  Alexandrines  unusual  rythms  and 
overflow  are  found  occasionally,  especially  in  Malherbe,  La 
Fontaine  and  Racine.  When  overflow  occurs  the  lines  in 
overflow  usually  retain  the  four-time  movement.  With  the 
Bomanticists  and  Parnassians  this  varies.  The  following  are 
the  most  important  rules  observed  by  the  modern  schools  of 
poetry,  regarding  overflow: 

1.  The  rime-word  in  overflow  must  be  sonorous  and  im- 
portant so  as  to  make  the  rime  noticeable  and  not  to  weaken  it. 

Example  of  a  good  overflow: 

Le  matin,  murmurant  une  sainte  parole, — Souriait. 

Example   of   a   bad  overflow: 

Se  levant  blafarde  et  solonnelle,  une-Nuit  raelancolique. 

2.  A  noun  must  not  be  followed  by  an  adjective  depend- 
ant upon  it  nor  an  adjective  by  the  noun  it  belongs  to. 

On  repousse  le  bas  conseil  de  tel  horrible — Degout. 
Deesse,  dans  les  cieux  eblouissant,  la  Voie — Lactee  est. 

3.  A  preposition  or  article  must  not  be  used  at  the  rime. 

4.  Liaison  between  the  rime- word  and  the  word  begin- 
ning the  following  line  must  be  avoided. 

IV.     RIME. 

The  three  most  important  kinds  of  rime  are;  rime  riche 
ou  pleine,  rime  suffisante,  rime  leonine. 

1.  Rimes  riches  are  those  in  which  the  sonorous  vowel 
and  the  preceding  consonant  are  alike:  P^re — prospere, — 
vers — divers. 


2.  Rimes  suffisantes  are  those  in  whicli  the  sonorous 
vowel  is  alike  and  the  final  consonants  the  same,  while  the 
preceding  consonants  are  different:  Soupir — desir, — usage — 
partage. 

3.  Rimes  leonines  are  those  in  which  the  vowel  preced- 
ing the  final  sonorous  vowel  and  consonant  (cf.  above)  is  also 
alike:     Florentin — enfantin, — abonder—  inonder. 

The  Classicists  were  content  with  the  rime  suffisante ;  the 
Romanticists  showed  no  preference;  the  Parnassians  exacted 
rime  riche. 

The  following  are  the  most  important  rules  of  rime: 

1.  Rime  is  for  the  ear  and  not  for  the  eye. 

2.  The  same  words  can  not  rime,  not  even  monosyllabic 
verbal  terminations:     Ressemblerais-je — disais-je. 

3.  Words  with  same  spelling,  but  different  in  meaning, 
are  permissible  in  rime:    Le  point — ne-point, — ne-pas — le  pas. 

4.  A  noun  must  not  rime  with  its  verb:  De  flamme — 
s'enflamme. 

5.  A  simple  word  must  not  rime  with  a  compound,  nor 
two  compounds  with  each  other  unless  their  meanings  are 
very  different :  Jeter — rejeter, — juste — injuste, — dieu — adieu ; 
but  garder — regarder,  conserver — observer  are  good. 

6.  e — er — ee  must  have  consonno  d'appui;  i.  e.,  the  pre- 
ceding consonant  alike:     Bonfe — chaofe,  but  not  don?2e. 

7.  a  requires  consonne  d'appui:  Trouva — cultiva;  at, 
— ats  are  exceptions:  combat-attentat. 

8.  i  requires  consonne  d'appui:  Banni — fini;  when  i 
follows  a  vowel,  as  obei,  it  may  rime  with  any  preceding  con- 
sonant: trahi — obei. 

9.  Final  w  requires  consonne  d'appui:  Rendu — perdu; 
however,  consonant  -j-  u,  forming  one  word,  does  not  require 
the  same  consonant:  e^rdu— ::fai8-tu. 

10.  — ment — mant  can  rime,  the  preceding  consonant 
may  be  different. 

11.  *on  requires  *ow:  Attention — illusion,  but  not  raison 
— illusion. 

12.  — ^s  rimes  with  itself  and  with— a?"s, — aits,—ets: 
Frais — expr^s,  traits — pres. 

13.  The  singular  of  nouns  and  adjectives  must  not  rime 
with  the  plurals,  nor  second  persons  of  verbs  with  other  per- 
sons. Words  with — s  terminations  do  not  rime  with  words 
not  ending  in — s. 


—  10  — 

14.  A  single  vowel  must  not  rime  with  a  diphthong: 
ciel — eternel. 

15.  Words  ending  in — t^ — d, — c  require  these  endings. 
Exceptions:     Eang,  sang  rime  with  flanc,  franc,  banc. 

16.  Vowels  with  different  qualities^  must  not  rime: 
ame — femme,  race — grace. 

17.  Voiced  and  voiceless  s  must  not  serve  as  consonne 
d'appui:  rasoir — du  soir,  les  yeux — des  cieux. 

18.  Monsieur  must  not  rime  with  words  in — ieur:  orieur 
— monsieur. 

19.  Imperfect  subjunctives,  as  aim^t,  aimassent,  and 
present  participles,  are  not  good  in  rime. 

20.  The  word  at  the  hemistich  must  not  rime  with  the 
rime-word:  Comme,  a  I'heure  oii  le  vent  passe  au  noir 
firmament. 

21.  The  two  hemistichs  must  not  rime: 

La  vierge  maudira  sa  grace  et  sa  beaute; 
L'homme  se  renira  dans  sa  virilite. 

22.  The  end  of  the  verse  must  not  rime  with  the  hemi- 
stich of  the  following  line : 

Enfoncer  le  poignarc? 
Un  esprit  ne  sans  fard,  sans  basse  complaisance. 

23.  The  rime-word  mast  not  form  liaison  with  the 
word  beginning  the  next  line: 

Lui  seul  est  eternel.  Le  raonde — Est  perissable. 

24.  Unimportant  words,  as,  prepositions,  articles,  etc., 
must  not  be  placed  at  the  rime. 

These  rules  have  been  observed  more  or  less  closely  by 
poets  of  all  schools;  the  Parnassians,  however,  insisted  upon 
their  being  rigidly  observed.     The  result  was: 

a.     Rimes  cherchees  and  rimes  calembour: 

II  appert  du  cachet  que  cette  cire  accuse. 

Que  ce  vin,  compagnons,  vient  bien  de  Syracuse. 

6.  The  poets  sacrifice  thought,  sentiment,  and  imagina- 
tion for  the  exigencies  of  rime.  The  phrase  is  no  longer  gov- 
erned by  the  idea,  but  by  the  necessity  of  the  rime- word. 

^For  convenience  sake  I  call  these  short  and  long  in  this 
sketch. 


—  11  — 

Emotion  was  prescribed.     The  need  of  rime- words  suggested 
words  which  have  no  connection  with  the  logical  sense: 

Tandis  des  cactus  aux  hampes  d' aloes, 
Les  perroquets  divers  et  les  kakatoes. 

c.  To  avoid  riming  against  the  rules  of  rime,  errors  in 
spelling  were  committed,  and  even  in  grammar: 

J'en  fais  autant  d'etat  du  long  comme  du  court, 
Et  mets  en  la  Vertu  ma  faveur  et  ma  cour(t). 

d.  Words  with  same  sounds  were  repeated,  making  the 
verse  monotonous:  ombre — sombre  occur  on  nearly  every  page 
of  L.  de  Lisle. 

V.     CHANGES  IN  THE  PEINCIPLES  OF  EIME,  OVEE- 

FLOW  AND  EYTHM  IN  THE  PAENASSIAN  AND 

SYMBOLISTIC  SCHOOLS  OF  POETEY. 

A.     Causes  That  Led  to  Changes. 

a.  The  severe,  rigid  laws  of  the  Parnassian  school  in 
regard  to  rime  was  a  prime  cause.  By  trying  to  observe  these 
laws  the  poets  made  of  poetry  a  work  of  artifice,  of  skillful 
chiselling  rather  than  a  work  of  sentiment,  inspiration  or 
imagination.     A  clamor  for  freedom  in  verse  was  the  result. 

6.  The  continual  recurrence  of  identical  sounds  became 
unbearable,  just  as  the  constant  rest  at  the  hemistich  in  Classic 
verse  became  impracticable  to  the  Eomanticists. 

c.  Influence  of  the  study  of  nature.  Nature  is  symbol- 
ical; poetry  can  be  made  so  by  expressive  language.  If  nature 
is  imitated  no  fixed  rules  must  be  observed;  nature  must  lead 
the  poet. 

d.  Carelessness  in  rime  in  the  poetry  of  the  Parnassians 
themselves. 

1.  The  use  of  voiced  and  silent  s  in  rime:  os — eaux, 

2.  Assonance  i:  ensevelis — de  lys. 

3.  Unimportant  words  at  the  rime,  such  as  prepositions, 
adverbs,  etc.: 

Que  j'avais  un  amour  dans  le  coeur,  que  parmi. 
4     Too  close  use  of  overflow: 

Le  Tibre  a  sur  ses  bords  des  ruines  qui  font, 
Monter  le  voyageur  vers  un  passe  profond. 


__.        12      ■-^■^- 

e.     Liaison  of  the  rime- word  with  the  following  line: 

Non  content  d'opprimer  I'Afrique  et  de  soumet^re. 
A  son  joug. 

/.  The  use  of  rare  rythms,  read  according  to  a  two-time 
system: 

Et  tout  ie  cirque  des  civilisations  =  48. 

g.     The  use  of  mute  e  at  the  hemistich: 

Oiseau  sur  ce  pale  roseau  fleuri  jadis  =  264. 

B.     Reaction  and  Changes. 

In  1827,  with  the  drama  Cromwell  by  Victor  Hugo,  the 
French  Romantic  school  was  founded  and  a  new  phase  in 
versification  was  opened  to  the  poets.  Freedom  in  rythm  and 
overflow^  and  to  some  extent  in  rime  was  exercised  until  1865, 
when  the  Parnassian  school  formed  their  theories  of  versifica- 
tion, protesting  against  the  Romantic  verse.  (;  They  demanded 
rime  riche,  regular  rythms,  perf^t  form ;  they  proscribed  sen- 
timent and  all  personal  element. )  "Well  made  verses  are  the 
first  requisite  for  a  work  of  poetry,"  thisy  say.  Eloquence, 
truth,  and  passion  can  be  made  poetic  under  certain  condi- 
tions; to  find  these  is  the  duty  of  the  poet.  The  essential 
virtue  of  language  and  verse,  is  suggestion;  that  is,  the  power 
of  evoking  images  or  particular  states  of  the  soul,  with  sylla- 
bles so  skillfully  conjoined  to  the  images  and  sentiments,  as  to 
form  as  nearly  as  possible  the  perceptible  form.  Singular  and 
sonorous  words  must  be  found  to  accomplish  this  effect.  The 
next  development  in  verse  is  that  of  1885,  when  the  Decadent 
school  was  founded  by  A.  Baju  and  his  friends,  which  pro- 
scribed regular  rythms  and  advocated  entire  freedom  in  verse. 
Their  aim  is  expressed  in  the  following  words: 

"C'est  le  vers  libere  des  cesures  pedantes  et  inutiles;  c'est 
le  triomphe  du  rythme;  la  variete  infinie  rendue  au  vieil  alex- 
andrin,  encore  monotone  chez  les  romantiques;  la  rime  libre 
enfin  du  joug  parnassien,  desormais  sans  raison  d'etre,  rede- 
venue  simple,  rare,  naive;  c'est  la  realisation  du  souhait  de 
Theodore  de  Banville:  "Victor  Hugo  pouvait,  lui,  de  sa  puis- 
sante  main,  briser  tons  les  liens  dans  lesquels  le  vers  est  en- 
ferme,  et  nous  le  rendre  absolument  libre,  machant  seulement 
dans  sa  bouche  ecumante  le  frein  d'or  de  la  rime."^ 

^  Souza — Le  Rythme  Poetique,  p.  185. 


—  13  — 

All  laws  of  the  preceding  schools  were  ignored.  Laws 
for  writing  verse  were  no  longer  observed. 

The  next  development  in  verse  is  that  of  the  Colorists  and 
Instrumentalists  Arthur  Rimbaud  and  Felix  Kahn.  Each 
vowel  has  a  corresponding  color  or  sound.  It  is  a  poetry  of 
symbols  exclusively  and  entirely  incomprehensible: 

A  noir,  E  blanc,  I  rouge,  U  vert,  O  bleu,  voyelles, 
Je  dirai  quelque  jour  vos  naissances  latentes. 
A,  noir  corset  velu  des  manches  eclatantes 
Qui  bombillent  autour  des  puanteurs  cruelles.^ 

The  last  development  in  verse  is  a  kind  of  union  of  the 
better  poets  of  the  Decadent,  Colorist  and  Instrumentalist 
schools,  called  pure  Symbolists.  These  show  the  last  efPort  to 
free  verse  and  exercise  the  utmost  liberties  and  the  extreme 
possibilities  in  writing  their  verses.  Viele- Griffin  writes  as 
follows: 

"Le  vers  est  libre; — ce  qui  ne  veut  nulleraent  dire  que  le 
vieil  alexandrin  soit  aboli  on  instaure;  mais — plus  largement 
— que  nuUe  forme  fixe  n'est  plus  consideree  comme  le  moule 
necessaire  a  I'expression  de  toute  pensee  poetique;  que  desor- 
mais  comme  toujours,  mais  consciemment  libre  cette  fois,  le 
poete  obeira  au  rythme  personnel  auquel  il  doit  d'etre,  sans 
que  M.  de  Banville  ou  tout  autre  "legislateur  du  Parnasse" 
aient  a  intervenir."^ 

Henri  Regnier  writes: 

"La  liberte  la  plus  grande:  qu'importe  le  nombre  du  vers, 
si  le  rythme  est  beau?"  ^ 

Stephane  Mallarme  writes: 

"  Le  vers  est  partout  dans  la  langue  ou  il  y  a  rythme. 
Toutes   les   fois  qu'il  y  a  effort  au  style,  il  y  a  versification."* 

VL     RESUME. 

^1.     Classicists. 

Principles:  a.  Rest  at  the  hemistich,  b.  No  overflow, 
c.  Four  rests  in  each  line;  that  is,  four-time  measure. 

^Arthur  Rimband,  Reliquaire.     Paris,  1892,  Genonceaux. 

2  Joies,  preface,  1889. 

3 Echo  de  Paris,  25  March,  1891. 

*Echo  de  Paris,  14  March,  1891. 


— 14  — 

B.       EOMANTICISTS. 

Principles:  a.  Rest  not  necessary  at  the  hemistich;  how- 
ever, the  word  must  end  at  the  hemistich  with  a  sonorous  syl- 
lable, h.  Free  use  of  overflow,  c.  Free  use  of  four — and 
three-time  verses,     d.  Often  careless  and  faulty  rime. 

C.     Parnassians. 

Principles:  a.  Preference  for  rest  at  the  hemistich,  h. 
Extreme  care  about  rime  in  the  use  of  overflow,  c.  Use  of 
three — and  four-time  verses,  or  either  one  exclusively,  but  with 
regularity;  effects  must  be  brought  out  by  the  use  of  rythms; 
these  rythms  harmonize  with  the  thought  expressed,  d.  Rime 
riche  above  all  things,  e.  Consistency  in  counting  syllables  of 
words;  for  example,  hier  is  dissyllabic  or  monosyllabic,  but 
not  both. 

D.     Decadents  and  Symbolists. 

Principles :  a.  No  rest  at  the  hemistich.  6.  No  laws  for 
overflow,  c.  The  use  of  any  rythms  in  any  order,  d.  No 
laws  for  rime.  e.  Syllables  have  no  definite  value;  for  exam- 
ple, hier,  lien,  plier  are  either  monosyllabic  or  dissyllabic.  /. 
Mute  e  may  or  may  not  count  as  a  syllable  in  verse;  it  need 
not  even  be  written,  g.  Rime  in  assonance,  h.  No  rime  at 
all;  blank  verse,  i.  No  limit  to  number  of  syllables  in  verse, 
nor  to  number  of  lines  in  the  stanza.  Absolute  freedom  in 
verse. 


% 


PART  II 


LECONTE  DE  LISLE. 
L     Rime. 

1.  I  can  give  no  exact  statistics  on  the  use  of  rime  riche 
and  rime  suffisante.  Of  the  terminations  before  which  the 
consonne  d'appui  is  required  according  to  the  laws  laid  down 
by  the  Parnassians,  he  violates  all  occasionally,  save  the  three 
following : 

— a,  trouva — cultiva; — w,  perdu — rendu; — i.  e.,  cavallerie 
— charrie.     Rime  riche  is  predominant  in  his  poetry. 

2.  Masculine  and  feminine  rimes  with  same  assonance. 
These  occur  occasionally  in  all  poets. 

fumee — clocher — enflammee — bucher,  T.,  p.  135. 

buee — refluee — illimite — nuee — reste — revolte,  T.,  p.  192. 

3.  Voiced  and  voiceless  s  as  consonne  d'appui. 

rasoir — du  soir,  T.,  p.  10;  z^le — ruiss^le,  B.,  p.  322. 
pesant — de  sang,  A.,  p.  240. 
Such  rimes  are  frequent. 

4.  Final  s  pronounced  and  unpronounced.  The  pronun- 
ciation of  these  words  is  often  a  matter  of  mere  taste,  but  some 
go  to  show  that  the  poet  rimes  for  the  eye  and  not  for  the  ear; 
some  show  the  contrary. 

lys — Thestylis,  A.,   p.   222;  des  lys — Mavromkhalis,   T., 

p.  105. 
mais — pays,  B.,  p.  164;  Paradis — jadis,  T,  p.  154. 
pris — fils,  A.,  p.  40;  crucifix — fils,  T.,  p.  153. 
rets — Xer^s,  T.,  p.  9;  d'ours — sourds,  T.,  p.  83. 
repos — Ouranos,  A.,  p.  153;  flots — Delos,  A.,  p.  92. 
des  OS — leurs  eaux,  T.,  p.  154,  occurs  often, 
^chos — lolkos,  A.,  p.  186;  egaux — Pelasgos,  A.,  p.  204. 
helas — Hellas,  A.,  p.  67,  D.,  p.  14;  helas — las,  B.,  p.  155. 
helas— Pallas,  D.,  p.  96. 


—  16  — 

5.  Short  and  long  or  close  and  open  o. 

aromes — hommes,  B.,   p.    179;  trone — environne,   B.,   p. 

316. 
epaules — paroles,  A.,  p.  199,  in  the  last  example  the  pro- 
nunciation varies. 

6.  Short  and  long  assonance. 

renaisse — jeunesse,   T.,  p.   5(5;  epaisse — ^jeunesse,  B.,  p. 

352. 
laisse — blesse,  B.,  p.  160;  Gr^ce     sagesse,  B.,  p.  353. 
Numerous  examples  of  aisse — esse  assonance  occur, 
la  haine— Gehenne,  T.,  pp.  147,  208;  peine — sienne.  A., 

p.  43. 
dechaine — ancienne,  T.,  p.  196;  haleine — Mytileenne,  A., 

p.  28. 
haleine — persienne,    B.,    p.   147;   sereine — lonienne,    A., 

p.  98. 
Athenes — antennes,  A.,  p.   131.     Pronunciation  varies  in 

all  these  cases.     Eden — jardin,  D.,  p.  176,  is  curious. 

7.  Short  and  long  a. 

^me — femme,  T.,  p.  9;  ame — Dame,  B.,  p.  283. 

Numerous  examples  of  ame — ame  occur. 

pales  —baptismal es,   B.,  p.   308;  lache — hache,  T.,  p.  20, 

B.,  p.  308. 
grace — race,  T.,  p.  225,  B.,  pp.  52,  287;  graces    -grasses, 

A.,  p.  40. 
age — sauvage,  B.,   p.   228,  273,  357;  Pape — happe,  T., 

p.  237. 
diaphanes — des  cannes,  T.,  p.  140. 

The  pronunciation  is  not  fixed  in  some  of  these  cases. 

8.  Long  e,  S  and  short  e. 

se  mele — comme  elle,  T.,  p.  4;  frele — belle,  B.,  p.  112. 
d'ailes — prunelles,  T.,  p.  15;  muette — tete,  A.,  p.  216. 
soumettre — maitre,  T.,  p.   8;    permettre — naitre,    A.,   p.  193. 
jeune — jeune,  A.,  p.  38.     Such  rimes  are  frequent,  and 
pronunciation  varies. 

9.  Single  vowel  riming  with  a  diphthong. 

mer — fier,  T.,  p.  7;  eternel — ciel,  T.,  p.  58. 
enfer— hier,  T.,  p.  81;  autel— fiel,  T.,  p.  171. 


—  17  — 

mains — miens,  B.,  p.  71.     Such  rimes  occur  often, 
raison — illusion — ion  requires  iow^  this  is  the  only  exam- 
ple found  in  the  five  poets  examined. 

10.  Eime- words  with  different  final  consonants. 

etant — attend,  T,,  p.  13;  froid —droit,  B.,  p.  150. 
d — t  rimes  are  very  common  and  permissible. 
t — g:  point — poing,  T.,  pp.  160,  253;  puissant — sang,  T., 
p.  177. 

pesant — sang,  B.,  p.  50;  croassant — sang,  B.,  p.  99. 

benissant — sang,  B.,  p.  130;  sach  rimes  are  frequent. 
d — g:  descend — sang,  B.,  p.  204. 
t — c:  sanglant — flano,  B.,  p.  4;  reculant — flanc,  B.,  p.  31. 

troubiant — flanc,  B.,  p.  206;  brulant — flanc,  A.,  p.  266. 

etincelant— blanc,  B.,  pp.  43,  101,  163,  174. 
n — c:  Liban — banc,  B,  p.  27. 
n — d:  heron — rond,  B.,  p.  115. 
t — h:  grandissait — Seth,  B. ;  p.  357. 
a — ah:  renaitra — Temrah,  B,,  p.  70. 

11.  Adverb  and  adjective  in  rime. 

bloc  bas — pria  bas,  B.,  p.  108. 
Such  cases  are  not  frequent. 

12.  Noun  and  adjective  in  rime. 

fumeroUe  grele — une  grele,  T.,  p.  103. 
ibis  roses — des  roses,  B.,  p.  40;  toutes  nues — des  nues, 
T.,  p.  155. 

13.  Rime  at  the  hemistich. 

a — a:  La  vierge  maudira  sa  grace  et  sa  beaute; 

L'homme  se  renira  dans  sa  virilite,  B.,  p.  88. 

There  are  264  cases  of  rime  at  the  hemistich ;  rimes  in  as — 
as,  i — i,  is — is,  ont — ont,  ieu — ieu,  ile — ile,  etc.,  etc. 

14.  Rime  at  the  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables, 
orte— orte:  On  verrouille  Is.  porte  atin  que  nul  n'en  sorte, 

T.,  p.  243.     Ninety-five  cases  of  such  rimes  are  found. 

15.  The  hemistich  rimes  with  the  rime- word  of  the  pre- 
ceding or  following  line: 

a — a:  Ou  le  fruit  qu'un  divin  adult^re  forma. 

L'homme  geant    brisa   la   vulve   maternelle,    B.,    p.    7. 
Twenty- two  cases  are  found. 


—  IS- 
IS.    The  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables  of  the  same  verse 
rime  with  the  sixth  or  twelfth  of  the  preceding  or  following 
line: 

ait — ais — let :  La  ville  aux  sept  coteaux,  en  qui  Dieu  se  compZa^f, 
Et   qu'abrite   a   jamais   I'aile  du  Paraclet,  T.,   p.    157. 
Fifty- six  examples  occur. 

II.     Hemistich  and  Hiatus. 

17.     Unstressed  words  at  the  hemistich. 

a.     Mute  e. 

Serait-ce  point  quelqwe  jugement  sans  merci,  T.,  p.  191. 
De  faireainsi,  tant  qwe  vivrez,  et  pour  le  mieux,  T.,  p.  249. 

h.     Prepositions. 

de:  De  ses  enfants  et  de  la  royale  femelle,  T.,  p.  114. 

D'un  bout  a  I'autre  de  la  salle  a  voute  epaisse,  T.,  p.  187. 

C'est  une  ecume  de  toute  race,  un  troupeau,  T.,  p.  197. 
du:  La  soif  de  I'or  et  du  meurtre  les  assemble,  T.,  p.  197. 
sur:  Seul  immobile,  et  sur  la  dalle  agenouille,  B.,  p.  319. 

Dans  la  vallee  et  sur  les  monts  perdant  nos  traces,  A.,  p.  5. 
dans:  Avec  la  Heine  et  dans  son  lit  dormir  ton  somme, 
T.,  p.  231. 

Comme  des  merles  dans  I'epaisseur  des  buissons,  B.,  p.  77. 

Sur  la  montagne  et  dans  les  profondes  vallees,  D.,  p.  25. 
sous:  La  queue  en  cercle  sous  leurs  ventres  palpitants, 
B.,  p.  173. 

Cache  la  tete  sous  la  nappe,  6  mon  enfant!     B.,  p.  287. 

Quant  ils  rayonnent  sous  ta  noire  chevelure,  A.,  p.  44. 
par:  Par  coups  de  foudre  et  par  rafales  emporte!     B.,  p. 

113.     D.,  p.  44;  T.,  pp.  56,  187. 
sans:  O  ma  nature,  sans  colere  et  sans  exces,  B.,  p.  276. 
parmi:  Etant  captif  parmi  les  cavaliers  d'Assur,  B.,  p.  1. 

B.,  pp.   192,   268;  T.,  pp.  6,  76;  A.,  pp.  212,  239,  282; 

D.,  pp.  71,  90,  182,  189. 
avec:  Le  vent  emporte  avec  1' ecume  dispersee,  B.,  p.  90. 

B.,  pp.  125,  126,  228,  275,  335,  etc.     Quite  frequent. 

c.     Articles. 

un:  Le  submergent  comme  un  assaut  de  mille  loups,  T.,  p.  14. 
T.,  pp.  29,  56,  69, 122,  205;  B.,  pp.  7,  219;  D.,pp.  17,  69. 
des:  Ceint  des  palmes  et'des  eclairs  de  cent  batailles,  T., 
p.  3L     T.,  pp.  58,  96;  A.,  p.  242. 


—  19  — 

les:  qui  dilatait  sur  les  continents  et  la  mer,  T.,  p.  176. 

T.,  pp.  30,  204;  B.,  p.  2. 
le:  Brule  le  si^ge  ou  le  scelerat  devient  pire,  D.,  p.  56. 

Et  I'oiseau  bleu  dans  le  mais  en  floraison,  T.,  p.  56. 
la:  Qui  s'enivrent  de  la  lumi^re  de  midi,  T.,  p.  56. 

T.,  pp.  57,  70,  186,  196,  204,  218,  238;  B.,  pp.  4,  32,  36, 
219,  280. 
aux:  Jusqu  'aux  astres,  jusqu  'aux  Anges,  jusques  a  Dieu! 
B.,  p.  312. 

d.     Pronouns. 

ta:  Tes  cris  d'horreur  ni  ta  priere  haletante?     T.,  p.  207. 
sa:  Et,  triompbant  dans  sa  hideuse  deraison,  B.,  p.  342. 

Et  son  ombre,  dans  sa  chaleur  et  sa  poussiere,  B.,  p.  275. 
tu:  Oil  que  tu  sois,  que  tu  veilles  ou  que  tu  dormes,  T.,  p.  209. 
en:  Amen!  amen!   je  m'en  remets  au  Roi  des  Rois,  T.,  p.  169. 

'   Toujours  est-il  qu'il  s'en  etait  debarrasse,  B.,  p.  268. 
qui:  De  la  tempete  qui  se  dechame  et  que  pleure,  T.,  p.  190. 

B.,  pp.  98,  277. 
mon:  Le  jour  tombe.     Que  mon  Seigneur  se  l^ve  et  mange! 
B.,  p.  25. 
Mais  de  ceci  pour  mon  malheur,  ne  sachant  rien,  B.,  p. 
278. 
ton:  Pour  I'absoiber  dans  ton  impassible  beaute?     B.,  p.  219. 
•  son:  II  t'effleure  de  son  baiser  silencieux,  T.,  p.  65.      B.,  pp. 

5,  186  (2),  284,  295. 
•vos:  Dans  chacune  de  vos  execrables  minutes,  T.,  p.  96. 
nos:  Mais  re  venous  a  nos  moutons  qu'il  nous  faut  tondre,  D., 

p.  56. 
.ses:  Et  la  haine,  dans  ses  entrailles,  brule  et  gronde,  T.,  p.  114. 

T.,  pp.  152,  184,  201,  219.     B.,  p.  291. 
mes:  A  mes  ^lus,  a  mes  Anges,  et  meme  a  Dieu,  T.,  p.  155. 
ces:  Parmi  ces  cris  et  ces  angoisses  et  ces  fidvres,  B.,  p.  228. 
cet:  De  jour  en  jour  en  cet  adorable  berceau,  B.,  p.  12. 
cette:  Et  tout  le  long  de  cette  enorme  goinfrerie,  B.,  p.  343. 
vous:  Pieux  Abbe!  Ne  vous  irritez  point  ainsi,  B.,  p.  273.     D., 
p.  53. 

e.     Miscellaneous  Words. 

a:  Corbeau  hideux,  11  t'a  flagelle  de  tes  crimes?      B.,  pp.  276, 

319. 
peu:  II  n'cn  restait  qu'unpew  de  fange  avec  du  sang,  B.,  p. 

334.     D.,  p.  52. 


—  20  — 

ni:  Ni  les  neuf  psanmes  ni  les  pienses  ].e9on8,  B.,  p.  343.     D., 

p.  201. 
assez:  La  quenouille  est  assez  pesant  poar  ta  main,  B.,  p.  75. 
pas:  Non,  non!  tu  ne  dois  pas  tomber,  Ville  sacre,  T.,  pp.  34, 

122. 
ou:  Des  cassolettes,  ou  rambre  qui  fume  encor,  T.,  p.  199. 
hors:  Avec  la  langue  hors  de  leurs  gueules  voraces,  D.,  p.  69. 

These  examples  sbow  that  L.  de  Lisle  observes  but  one 
rule  for  the  hemistich,  namely,  the  word  must  end  at  the  hem- 
istich, but  there  need  be  no  stress  there  at  all,  however,  he  ad- 
mits of  no  overlapping  or  overflowing  hemistich  which  would 
be  the  next  step,  as  Verlaine  does. 

18.  Hiatus.  There  arc  no  cases  of  hiatus  in  L.  de  Lisle. 
I  give  a  number  of  examples  such  as  are  not  found  very  often 
in  poetry. 

Et  la  terre  maudite  est  comme  un  champ  aride,  B.,  p.  303. 
Fus  adore  des  rois  de  1'  Ariaiie  Antique,  B.,  p.  88. 
A  son  joug  usurpe  les  Emyrs,  ses  egaux,  T.,  p.  8. 

III.     Overflow   and   Eythm. 

19.  Overflow. 

a.     Liason. 

1.  Mute  e:  Non  content  d'opprimer  I'Afrique  et  de  soumettre 

a  son  joug  usurpe  les  Emyrs,  ses  egaux,  T.,  p.  8;  T., 
pp.  10,  1.  1-3;  162,  1.  2-4;  179,  1.  3-4;  216,  1.  13-15; 
237,  1.  22  3;  244,  1.  2-3.  B.,  pp.  138,  1.  15  6;  141,  1- 
17-19;  278,  1.  19-20.  A.,  pp.  18,  1.  1-2;  49,  1.  18-19. 
D.,  pp.  137,  1.  7-8;  206,  1.  19-20. 

2.  Liaison  of  s:  La  bas,  au  flanc  du  roc  crevasse,  ses  aiglons 

Erigent,  affames,  T.,  p.  85.     T,,  pp.  154,  1.  1-4;  229- 

30,  1.  30,  1.  B.,  pp.  32,  1.  13-15;  267,  1.  19-20,  21- 
22;  270,  1.  6-7;  284,  1.  9-10.  A.,  pp.  178,1.  78; 
186,  1.  13-14;  198,  1.  26-7.  D.,  pp.  234,  1.  12.13; 
179,  1.  21-22. 

3.  Liaison  of  t:  O  princes,  c'est  pourquoi  vous  ne  dormirez 

point — au  tombeau  des  aieux,  T.,  p.  70.  T.,  pp.  152, 
1.  8-9;  206,  1.  1-2.     B.,  pp.  10,  1.  2-3;  26,  1.  20-21; 

31,  1.  1-2;  128,  1.  4-5;  132,  1.  11-12;  202,1.  3-4.  A., 
p.  76,  1.9-10. 


-  21  — 

It  must  be  remembered  that  these  examples  admit  var- 
ious readings;  my  reading  is  not  meant  as  the  only  possible 

one. 

a.     Weak  words  at  rime. 

1.     Noun  followed  by  an  adjective:  De  Juillet,  en  un  vaste  et 

riche  diocese — Primatial,  T.,  p.  79. 
De  I'estrapade  des  chevalets,  ou  la  Goule — Romaine,  T., 

p.  96. 
ossuaire — Immense,  T.,  p.  113;crapauds — Enormes,  T.,  p.  154. 
joie — Terrible,  T. ,  p.  156;ral8ment — Lamentable,  T. ,  p.  175. 
I'air— Fetide,  T.,  p.  177;  gehenne— Effroyable,   T.,  p.  179. 
Comte— Lazano,  T.,  p.  237;B.,  p.  291.  chien— Affame,  B.,  p.  26. 
fourmillement — Immense,  B.,  p.  10;  Acharnement — Horrible, 

B.,  p.  231. 
Ombre — Informe,  B.,  p.  249;  esp6ce — Geante,  B.,  p.  264. 
empires — Antiques,  B.,  p.  267;  betes — Inertes,  B.,  p.  270. 
Festin — Sanglant,  A.,  p.  115;  serpents — Horribles,  A.,  p.  172. 
hauteurs — Verdoyanies,  A.,   p.    219;    animaux — Impurs,  A., 

p.  276." 
poisons — Subtils,  D.,  p.  54;  iles — Sombres,  D.  p.  70. 

2.  Adjective  followed  by  a  noun:  Par  mes  cornes,  ma  queue 

et  mes  griffes!     Le  vieux — Demosthenes,  D.,  p.  47. 

3.  Prepositions:  Or,  les  arrets  transmis  par  les  scribes,  selon 

— Les  formes,  T.,  p.  229;  B.,  p.  293.  '- 
Et  ceux   d'Egypte   et  ceux  de  Tartarie  avec — Le  More 

grenadin,  B.,  p.  341. 
Et  j'ai  vu  que  la  nuit  6tait  muette  autour — Du  chaume, 

B.,  p.  853. 

4.  Noun  or  adjective  followed  by  a  preposition  and  noun  or 

adjective:   L'heure  passe,  I'heure  brule.   II  a  faim. 

A  defaut— De  gazelles,  T.,  p.  86. 
Or   lui-meme,  vetu  tel   que   les   anciens   rois — D'Orient, 

T.,p.  200. 
la  joie — De  choses,  A.,  p.  28;  cavales — De  jais.  A.,  p.  47. 
la  Terre — D'Hellas,  A.,  p.  95;  laine — De  I'agneau,  D. ,  p.  49. 
au  dos — Des  femmes,  D.,  p.  63;  pleines — De  parfums.  A.,  p. 

196. 
lourds — De  brocards,  T.,  p.  96;  dernier — Des  Turks,  T.,  p. 

104. 


—  22  — 

c.     Romantic  Rythms. 

1.     Overflow  causes  Romantic  rythm.^ 

444:  La  nuit  est  sans  oreille,  et  sur  le  cap  ancien, 

Le  vent  emporte,  avec  I'ecume  dispersee.     B.,  p.  90. 
453:  Herborga  s'etant  tue,  Ulbranda  dit:  6  Raines 

Que  votre  mal,  aupres  de  mes  maux,  est  leger!    B.,  p.  97. 
354:  O  femmes!  Aujourd'hui  que  je  suis  vieille  et  seule, 

Que  I'angoisse  a  brise  mon  coeur,  courbe  mon  dos.     B., 
p.  97. 
435:  Une  femme,  a  pas  lents,  tr^s  belle,  aux  tresses  blondes, 
De  blanc  vetue,  aux  yeux  calmes,  tristes  et  doux.     B.,  p. 
109. 
543:  Mains  jointes,  meditait,  vetu  de  blanche  laine 

Ou  se  detachait  For  pectoral  de  la  Croix.     D.,  p.  41. 
-^534:  Jamais  sous  les  berceaux  que  le  jasmin  parfume, 

Aux  roucoulements  doux  et  lents  des  verts  ramiers,     B., 
p.  139. 
•  345:  Inquidte,  les  yeux  aigus  com  me  des  fldches, 

Elle  ondule  epiant  I'ombre  des  rameaux  lourds,     B.,  p. 
199. 
264:  Ainsi  les  maitres,  fils  de  Math,  le  tr^s  puissant, 

Volaient,  impetueux  essaims,  epaississant,     B.,  p.  114. 
246:  Mais  qui  rendra  la  vie  et  la  flamme  et  la  voix, 

Au  coeur  qui  s'est  brise  pour  la  derniere  fois  ?     B.,  p.  240. 
462:  Palpitant  de  terreur  joyeuse  et  de  desir, 

Quand  j'embrassais  dans  une  irresistible  en  vie,     B.,  p. 
219. 
426:  Mais,  n' ay  ant  jamais  eu  de  telle  vision, 

II  se  sen  tit  fremir  en  cette  occasion.     B.,  p.  264. 
624:  Tout!  Tout  a  disparu,  sans  echos  et  sans  traces, 

Avec  le  souvenir  du  monde,  jeune  et  beau.     B.,  p.  248. 
642:  C'est  lui  qui  dans  mon  coeur  eclate  et  vibre  encore, 

Comme  un  appel  guerrier  pour  un  combat  nouveau.     B., 
p.  220. 
363:  Le  troisi^me  Demon,  spectre  d'une  horreur  telle 
Se  revdle,  dans  son  infamie  immortelle     T.,  p.  218. 

^Under  L.  de  Lisle  I  give  an  example  of  each  rythm  occurring 
in  overflow;  under  the  other  poets  I  give  those  not  found  in  L.  de 
Lisle.     The  statistics  will  show  their  frequency, 


—  23  — 

255:  Or,  au  feu  d'une  torche  en  un  flambeau  grossier, 

Le  Jarle,  dans  sa  tour  vieille  que  la  raer  ronge,     B.,  p. 
108. 
156:  Seigneur,  dit  le  Corbeau,  vous  parlez  comme  un  homme 
Sur  de  se  reveiller  apres  le  dernier  somme;     B.,  p.  266. 
39:  Fleuves,  plaines  et  monts,  et,  tout  foudreux,  voila 

Qu'ils  s'arretent  devant  la  grande  My  til  a.     A.,  p.  34. 
372:  Mais  non,  non!  ce  n'est  point  un  vain  songe;  ma  honte 
Est  certaine.     Le  flot  inevitable  monte.     D.,  p.  137. 

273: Ne  touchez  point 

Au  reste.     J'ai  re9u  mission  sur  ce  point     T.,  p.  152. 
174:  Les  caimans,  le  long  des  berges  embusques, 

Guettent,  en  soulevant  du  dos  la  vase  noire,     T.,  p.  116. 
84:  .     .     .     .     .     Dieu  s'evanouit 

Dans  le  rayonnement  splendide  de  la  nuit.     B.,  p.  128. 
282:  Sans  rel^che,  mes  soeurs,  les  si^cles  sont  tombes, 

D^s  I'heure  ou  le  premier  jaillissement  des  %es     B.,  p. 
48. 
66:  Et  toi,  mort  et  cousu  sous  la  fun^bre  toile, 
Tu  t'aneantiras  dans  ta  sterilite.     B.,  p.  19. 

2.     Bythms  not  found  in  overflow. 

336:  Cavalier  flamboyant  sur  les  sept  etalons!     A.,  p.  6. 
633:  L'inqui^te  gazelle,  attentive  a  tout  bruit,     A.,  p.  8. 
183:  Mais,  dans  I'inaction  surhumaine  plonges,     A.,  p.  9. 
93:  Et  le  renoncement  furieux  du  genie     B.,  p.  239. 
516:  Et  TEternite  s'ouvre  apres  le  Jugement!     T.,  p.  147. 
552  or  1452:  Nulle,  dit  Satan,  n'a  de  visions  charnelles.     B., 

p.  336. 
2532:  Je  suis  comme  un  lion  mort  qu'on  outrage  en  face.    B., 

p.  24. 
2343:  M'a  dit: — L6ve-toi,  Guy  de  Clairvaux,  pauvre  moine, 

B.,  p.  349. 
2514:  Les  plumes  de  son  dos  maigre,  et,  fermant  les  yeux, 

B.,  p.  265. 
75  or  6132  or  615:  Imperissablement  jeune,  innocent  et  beau 

B.,  p.  12. 
165:  Et,  pour  aiguillonner  I'heure  qui  n'a  plus  d'aile,     B.,  p. 

141. 
2334:  En  I'air:  moines  blancs,  gris  ou  bruns,  barbus  ou  ras, 

T.,  p.  80. 


—  24  — 

20.  Use  of  Eythms.  No  poet  before  L.  de  Lisle,  1857, 
attempted  to  use  the  Romantic  rythm  as  a  separate  system,  or 
in  any  systematic  way.  No  long  series  of  these  ry thms  occur ; 
Victor  Hugo  used  them  indiscriminately.  We  cannot  prove 
that  he  used  them  intentionally  or  in  groups,  but  often  placed 
them  at  the  beginning  or  end  of  a  stanza  or  poem  to  produce 
some  desired  effect.  In  L.  de  Lisle  we  first  find  a  series  of 
Romantic  rythms,  and  these  tend  to  show  an  intentional  use; 
but  these  series  are  rarely  effective  or  fortunate,  and  still  less 
rythmical;  whereas,  when  we  examine  Verlaine's  rythms,  we 
find  that  he  is  the  first  to  manipulate  skillfully  both  systems, 
separately  and  alternately.  Neither  Coppee  nor  Prudhomme 
show  a  tendency  to  a  separate  use.  In  the  one  short  volume 
of  poetry  of  de  Heredia  I  find  no  series  of  Romantic  rythms, 
but  a  most  wonderful  regularity  in  the  Classical;  at  times  he 
uses  one  rythmic  combination  through  a  whole  sonnet.  There 
are  no  series  in  the  Derniers  Po6mes  or  Poemes  Antiques,  but 
some  six  in  Poemes  Barbares,  and  eight  in  Poemes  Tragiques. 

1.  Unsuccessful  series  of  rythms: 

C'est  un  ancien  moutier  des  Nonnes,  qu'en  I'Ann^e  84 

Mil  et  cent,  le  royal  Godefroy  dedia  363 

A  la  mere  de  Dieu,  d'etoiles  couronnee,  624 

Sur  cet  apre  coteau  du  Carmel,  ou  pria,  633 

Jadis,  Elie,  au  temps  des  terribles  merveilles,  453  or  48 

Le  char  miraculeux  du  Voyant  flamboya.  2433  or  633 

T.,  p.  203. 
Defects:  1.  The  whole  is  pure  prose. 

2.  The  rythm  as  a  whole  is  too  uneven  or  unrythmic. 

3.  Dedia — A  la  m^re  too  close  overflow. 

2.  Successful  series  of  rythms: 

Et  d'heure  en  heure,  aussi,  vous  vous  engloutirez,  156 

O  tourbillonnements  d'etoiles  eperdues,  624 

Dans  I'incommensurable  effroi  des  etendues,  84 

Dans  les  gouffres  muets  et  noirs  des  cieux  sacres!  354 

Et  ce  sera  la  Nuit  aveugle,  la  grande  Ombre  444 

Informe,  dans  son  vide  et  sa  sterilite,  246 

L'abime  pacifique  ou  git  la  vanite  624 

De  ce  qui  fut  le  temps  et  I'espace  et  le  nombre.  4233 
B.,  p.  249. 


.MCyNIVEBSITY  i 
_  25  —       ^■*"---»--*^ 

The  contrast  between  these  two  stanzas  is  wonderful.  The 
uneven  time  of  the  first  only  adds  to  the  confusion  that  the 
sense  of  the  lines  expresses,  and  fitly  ends  with  the  most  un- 
even rythm  possible,  354,  The  second  stanza  has  a  most  ryth- 
mical and  harmonious  ending. 

3.  Example  of  Classic  and  Romantic  rythms. 

L'orfluide  du  jour  jaillit  en  gerbes  vives,  3324 

Monte,  s'epanouit,  retombe  et  ruisselant  1524 

Comme  un  rose  incendie  au  fleuve  etincelant,  3324  or  624 

Semble  le  dilater  au-dessus  de  ses  rives.  1533  or  633 

Sous  les  paletuviers  visqueux,  aux  longs  arceaux,  84 

Dans  I'enchevetrement  aigu  des  herbes  grasses,  84 

Tourbillonne  I'essaim  des  moustiques  voraces,  3333 

Et  des  mouches  dont  I'aile  egratigne  les  eaux.  3333 
T.,  p.  165. 

We  may  scan  the  first  stanza,  according  to  the  four-time 
system  3324—1524—3324—1533. 

These  verses,  followed  by  the  heavy  84,  84  bring  out  a 
peculiar  effect  upon  the  ear,  and  when  followed  by  the  short, 
light,  agile  3333,  3333  movement,  the  effect  is  complete, 

4.  A  series  of  Classical  rythms  ending  with  a  Romantic 
rythm: 

Et  j'ai  vu  rOrient  s'entr'ouvrir,  et  voila  3333 

Que  trois  Formes  d'azur,  de  lumiere  et  de  grace,  3333 

Laissant  trois  fleuves  d'or  ruisseler  sur  leur  trace,  2433 

Montaient  d'un  meme  trait  dans  le  ciel  rejoui,  2433 

Sans  voir  le  monstre  terne  et  Satan  ebloui;  2433 

Et  j'ai  vu  que  c'etaient,  en  pure  gloire  egales,  3342 

Les  trois  Roses,  les  trois  Vertus  theologales.  354 
B.,  p.  335. 

5.  A  series  of  Classical  rythms: 

C'est  Theure  ou  le  soleil  blanchit  les  vastes  cieux. 
Et  fend  I'ecorce  d'or  des  grenades  vermeilles. 
Le  divin  vagabond  de  I'air  silencieux 

Se  pose  sur  ta  bouche,  6  vierge,  et  tu  sommeilles!     T.,  p.  65. 
2424—2433—3324—2424. 

In  his  use  of  the  pure  Classical  system,  L.  de  Lisle  is  only 
second  to  de  Heredia,  who,  although  he  learned  his  art  from 


—  26  — 

L.  de  Lisle,  has  excelled  him  in  the  use  of  this  system  of 
rythm.  In  all  these  examples  we  can  readily  see  how  the 
arrangement  of  words,  the  use  of  rythms  and  placing  of  rests 
harmonize  with  the  character  of  the  verse  and  its  logical  sense. 
This  is  the  direct  source  for  the  theories  of  the  Parnassians  in 
regard  to  the  effects  that  can  be  produced  by  a  skillful  rhymster. 
To  reproduce  these  effects,  which  came  natural  to  a  genius  like 
L.  de  Lisle,  was  their  aim,  and  this  desire  for  effect  led  them 
to  sacrifice  sentiment  for  form,  sympathy  for  effect,  and  to 
cultivate  the  theory  of  art  for  art's  sake  to  the  extreme  possi- 
bilities. Failing  in  their  endeavor  to  produce  verses  like  their 
master,  the  Parnassians  followed  one  of  these  three  tendencies: 

1.  They  adhered  to  their  theories  for  a  time  and  then, 
seeing  the  impossibility  of  an  art  for  itself,  they  returned  to 
the  use  of  the  Romantic  style;  that  is,  to  the  use  of  both  sys- 
tems.    Such  is  Coppee's  versification. 

2.  They  continued  writing  according  to  the  laws  of  art 
for  art's  sake,  for  example,  de  Heredia,  or  returned  to  the  use 
of  the  pure  Classic  metre,  as  seen  in  the  versification  of  Sully 
Prudhomme. 

3.  They  disregarded  all  laws  of  rime  and  r|^thm.  Such 
is  Verlaine's  poetry.     From  him  descend  the  Symbolists. 

JOSE  MAETA  DE  HEREDIA. 
I.     Rime. 

1.  cf.  remarks  on  L.  de  Lisle. 

2.  Masculine  and  feminine  rimes  with  same  assonance 
do  not  occur. 

3.  Voiced  and  voiceless  s  as  Consonne  d'Appui. 
Five  examples  occur. 

pensifs — les  ifs;  p.  139;  sur — d'azur,  p.  35;  gracieux — 
vos  yeux,  p.  96. 

d'etincelles — des  ailes,  p.  151;  les  scombres  -des  ombres, 
p.  118. 

4     Final  s  pronounced  and  unpronounced. 

des  lys — ensevelis,  p.  153;  mais — pays,  p.  191. 
leurs  OS — roseaux,  pp.  31,  45.     bras— Batz,  p.  143. 
Arez — cypres,  p.  140;  helas — coutelas — plats,  p.  163. 


—  27  — 

5.  Short  and  long  or  close  and  open  o. 
Suetone — festonne,  p.  70. 

6.  Short  and  long  assonance. 

pleine — Herculeenne,  p.  12;  antennes — lointaines,  p.  111. 

7.  Short  and  long  a. 

ame  — flamme,  p.  154;  lasse — glace,  p.  152, 
Pape — chape — Priape — frappe,  p.  94. 
cf.  L.  de  Lisle. 

8.  Long  e  e  and  short  e. 

mele — femelle,  p.  27;  st^le — telle,  p.  25;  grelee— sur- 
naturelles,  p.  196. 

ailes — etincelles,  p.  151;  violette — reflete,  p.  47.  cf.  L. 
de  Lisle. 

9.  Single  vowel  riming  with  a  diphthong. 

Michel — ciel,  p.  145;  eclair — fier,  p.  151;  feu — dieu, 
p.  16L 

10.  Rime- words  with  different  final  consonants. 

d — t:  fend — etouffant,  p.  77.     cf.  L.  de  Lisle. 

p — t:  camp — debarquant,  p.  194. 

d — b — g:  aplomb — long — blond,  p.  121. 

11.  Adverb  and  adjective  in  rime. 
No  examples. 

12.  Noun  and  adjective  in  rime. 

des  reflets  roses — des  roses,  p.  77;  branche  torse — son 
torse,  p.  104. 

13.  Rime  at  the  hemistich. 
Fifty- three  examples  occur. 

14.  Rime  at  the  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables. 
Four  examples  occur. 

15.  The  hemistich  rimes  with  the  rime-word  of  the  pre- 
ceding or  following  line. 

Twenty-two  cases  occur. 

16.  Under  number  16,  eight  cases  occur. 


—  28  — 
II.     Hemistich  and  Hiatus. 

17.  Unstressed  words  at  the  hemistich. 

a.     Mute  e. 

b.     Prepositions. 

dans:  Au  dos  du  livre  et  dans  I'epaisseur  de  la  tranche,  p,  100. 
sous:  lis  bondissent,  et  sous  leurs  bonds  et  leurs  elans,  p.  27. 

Midi.     L'air  briile  sous  la  terrible  lumi^re,  p.  121. 

Les  lames  glauques  sous  leur  crini^re  d'ecume,  p.  147. 
par:  Qu'il  tient  empoigne  par  I'horrible  chevelure,  p.  165. 
parmi:  S'envoleront  parmi  I'harmonieuse  haleine,  p.  59. 
avec:  Ma  Mte  faite  avec  sept  tiges  de  eigne,  pp.  59,  64,  147. 

c.     Articles. 

un:  Les  emporte  avec  un  fremissement  de  plume,  p.  87. 
les:  Vers  Syracuse  et  les  abeilles  et  les  vignes,  p.  67. 
la:  De  mots  et  d'armes.     La  foudre  au  Capitolin,  p.  73. 

Au  rude  Ares!  A  la  belliqueuse  Discorde,  p.  43. 

L'ajonc  fleurit  et  la  bruy^re  est  deja  rose,  p.  140. 

d.     Pronouns. 
e.     Miscellaneous  Words. 

18.  Hiatus. 

III.         OVEEFLOW    AND    RyTHM. 

19.  Overflow. 

a.     Liaison.* 

1.     Mute  e:  Cherche  le  vieil  Hylos  et  dis-lui  qu'il  cel^bre 

Un  long  deuil  pour  le  tils  qu'il  ne  reverra  pas,  p.  46. 

2     Liaison  of  s:    Castille  a  triomphe  par  cet  homme,  et  ces 
flottes 
Ont  sous  lui  complete  I'empire  sans  pareil,  p.  114. 
Monte  au  faite  du  ciel,  et  les  chaudes  haleines 
Ont  fait  onduler  Tor  bariole  des  plaines,  p.  20. 

3.     Liaison  of  t. 

Voici  r autre  et  la  source,  et  c'est  la  qu'il  se  plait 
A  dormir  sur  un  lit  d'herbe  et  de  serpolet.     p.  42. 

1  of.    Remarks,  p.  60. 


—  29  — 

b.     Weak  words  at  the  rime. 

1.  Noun  followed  by  an  adjective. 

Le  sol  ardent  petille,  et  I'Anubis  d'airain — Immobile,     p.  121. 
L'Ocean  s'entr'ouvrit,  et  dans  sa  nudite-  Kadieuse.    p.  13. 

2.  Adjective  followed  by  a  noun. 

3.  Prepositions. 

Qai  que  tu  sois,  vivant,  passe  vite  parmi — L'herbe  du  tertre. 

p.  50. 
La  gloire  vous  fera  vivre  a  jamais  parmi — Les  ombres,    p.  153. 

4.  Noun  or  adjective  followed  by  a  preposition  and  noun 
or  adjective. 

c.     Romantic  Rythras, 

1.  Overflow  causes  Romantic  rythm.* 

615:  lis  voient  irradiant  du  Belier  au  Verseau, 

Les  constellations  poindre  dans  I'azur  sombre,     p.  37. 

The  following  rythms  occur  in  overflow: 

444,  453,  435,  354,  534,  345,  264,  246,  426,  462,  624,  642, 
156,  273,  372. 

2.  Rythms  not  found  in  overflow.2 

1353:  La,  s'abouchant  avec  les  Caciques  des  villes.     p.  194. 
2253:  Midi.     L'air  brule  et  sous  la  terrible  lumi^re.     p.  121. 

20.     Use  of  Rythms." 

De  Heredia  only  uses  the  Classical  rythms  in  series.  I 
give  one  example  of  a  regular  series  of  Classical  rythms  run- 
ning through  an  entire  sonnet. 

Que  vos  astres  plus  clairs  gardent  mieux  du  danger,  3333 

Dioscures  brillants,  divins  fr^res  d'Helene,  3333 

Le  po^te  latin  qui  veut,  au  ciel  hell^ne,  3324 

Voir  les  Cyclades  d'or  de  I'azur  emerger.  4233 

»cf.  L.  deL. 
2  of.  statistics. 
» cf .  L.  de  L. 


—  30.— 

Qae  des  souffles  de  Pair,  de  tons  le  plus  leger,  3324 

Que  le  doux  lapyx,  redoublant  son  haleine,  3333 

D'une  brise  embaumee  enfle  la  voile  pleine,  3342 

Et  pousse  le  navire  au  rivage  eLranger.  2433 

A  travers  I'Archipel  ou  le  dauphin  se  joue,  3342 

Guidez  heureusement  le  chanteur  de  Mantoue;  2433 

Prebez-lui,  fils  du  Cygne,  un  fraternel  rayon.  3342 

La  moiti^  de  mon  ^me  est  dans  la  nef  fragile,  3342 

Qui,  sur  la  mer  sacree  ou  chantait  Arion,  1533 

Vers  la  terre  des  Dieux  porte  le  grand  Virgile.  3315 
p.  57. 

The  regularity  is  at  once  apparent.     Such  combinations 
are  not  found  in  the  other  poets. 

FEANgOIS  COPPEE. 

I.       ElME. 

1.  cf.  remarks  on  L.  de  Lisle. 

2.  Masculine  and  feminine  rimes  with  assonance  ^  occur 
frequently;  the  assonance  in  ie — i  occurs  six  times. 

tragedie — hardie — paradis — dix,  3,  p.  54. 
ami — academie — Lulli — jolie,  3,  p.  105. 
habits — subis — confie — vie,  3,  p.  133. 
fleurie — patrie— partis — pervertis,  3,  p.  160. 
merci — ici — bijouterie — Seigneurie,  4,  p.  22. 
beni — fini — ravie — vie,  4,  p.  44. 

3.  Voiced  and  voiceless  s,  as  Consonne  d'Appui. 
This  occurs  frequently,    des  cieux — les  yeux,  5,  p.  158. 

affaiblis— des  lys,  2,  p.  140;  3,  pp.  88,  109,  236;  5,  p.  93, 

201. 
le  pays — ces  mais,  4",  p.  1-2;  Hafiz — fils,'  7,  p.  128. 
brandis — uncontre  dix,  4°,  p.  107;  jadis — sur  dix,  4,  p.l32. 
cinquante-six — M^dicis,  8,  p.  194. 

ses  OS — Chandos,  2,  p.  233;  tes  os — des  ciseaux,  2,  p.  276, 
Stradiverius — plus,  2,  p.  58;  I'Angelus — instant  de  plus, 

4,  p.  68. 

» fils  occurs  often  in  rime. 


—  31  — 

BBB  vertus — ^Bmtns,  4,  p.  92;  les  obns — d'omnibus,  8,  p. 

137. 
helas— lUas,  4,  p.  180;  6,  pp.  27-8;  helas— Us,  4*,  p.  80; 

5,  p.  161. 
helas— r  Atlas,  8,  p.  70. 

5.  Short  and  long  or  close  and  open  o. 

il  donne — anmone,  5,  p.  164;  bonne — amndne,  8,  p.  51. 
d'hommes — nomes,  7,  p.  90. 

6.  Short  and  long  assonance. 

jennesse — renaisse — 1,  p.  109;  — esse — aisse  occnr  often, 
saine — Avicenne,  2,  p.  189;    Cevennes — vaines,  3,  p.  103. 
Cevennes — neavaines,   3,    p.   172;    comprenne — ^reine,  7 
p.  39. 

7.  Short  and  long  a. 

ame — femme  occnr  freqnentlv.     1.  p.  46. 
race — grace,  5.  p.  184;  lasse — glace,  4.  p.  160. 
place— grice,  7.  p.  186-7.     balle— p^le,  7.  p.  182. 

8.  Long  ^  e  and  short  e. 

vous  etos— noisettes,  1.  p.  16.     m§le — gamelle,  1.  p.  97. 
jeiue — jeune,  1.  p.  104;  est — lait,  4   p.  45. 
blees^  -je  sais,  2.  pp.  128,  221 — bnt:  acc^ — ^je  sais,  3.  p.  117. 
appar^tre — lettre,  7.  pp.  46,  179;  permettre — maitre,  3.  p.  7. 
jette— po^te,  4.  p.  137.     cigarette — faite,  6.  p.  220. 

These  rimes  occar  Tery  often  in  Coppee.      They  show 
Parisian  pronunciation. 

9.  Single  vowel  riming  with  a  diphthong. 

bleu — Dien,  1.  p.  100.     These  are  common  in  Copp^ 

10.  Bime-words  with  different  final  consonants. 

d — t.  is  frequent 

i — g:  present — sang,  2.  p.  188,  4  p.  189.     The  other  examples 
of  sang  in  rime  are  with  participles. 

point — poing,  2.  p.  152.  frpqnent 

poing — rejoint,  5.  p.  84;  flottant — etang,  8.  p.  131. 
d — g:  attend — etang,  1.  p.  10;  descend — dn  sang,  7.  p.  269. 

rang — grand,  8.  p.  214;  fanbonrg— loord,  8.  p.  192. 

gonrd — faubourg,  9.  p.  17. 


—  32— 

t— c:  tremblant— blanc,  2.  p.  11;  6.  pp.  17,  44,  63;  9.  p.  174. 
surplombant — banc,  6.  p.  35;  tronblant — blanc,  7.  p.  262. 
tombant — banc,  9.  p.  156. 
n — c:  done — pardon,  2.  p.  17;  3.  p.  246;  pigeon — de  jonc,  6. 

p.  114. 
n — d:  bouffon — profond,  2.  p.  202;  3.  p.  91.     Meran    -prend, 

3.  p.  123. 
tyran — grand,  4.  p.  56. 
p — t:  champ — arrachant,  2.  p.  317;  7.  p.  63;  manquant — camp, 

8.  p.  192. 
d — p:  pour  qnand — au  camp,  2.  p.  231-2;  4^  p.  68. 
s — g:  reprends — rang,  2.  p.  320. 
g — r:  Edimbourg — tambour,  4.  p  228;  Luxembourg — tambour, 

8.  p.  197. 
g — b:  long — plomb,  7.  p.  220. 
g  — c:  sang — flanc,  9.  p.  116. 
t— h:  plut— lutb,  2.  p.  181. 

The  following  I  consider  rimes  cherchees: 

a  la  Motte  Broon — demon,  2.  p.  173. 

avec-  grec,  3.  p.  19. 

valet — Hamlet,  3.  p.  61;  Rembrandt  -  grand,  8.  p.  160. 

White  Hall— Royal,  4.  p.  149;  peine — Henri  Heine,  7.  p.  70. 

keepsake — diss^que,  7.  p.   264;  Yankee — manquee,  9.  p.  137. 

11.  Adverb  and  adjective  in  rime. 

12.  Noun  and  adjective  in  rime. 

La  bise 

Fait  saillir  ses  seins  durs  sous  la  cretonne  bise,  7.  p.  264. 

13.  Rime  at  the  hemistich.^ 
Two  hundred  cases  occur. 

14.  Rime  at  the  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables. 

ents — ^ants. 
Ayez  des  sentiments  pour  moi  plus  con^ants.     1.  p.  133. 
Twenty-four  examples  occur. 

^cf.  remarks  L.  de  L, 


—  33^ 

15.  The  hemistich  rimes  with  the  rime-word  of  the  pre- 
ceding or  following  line. 

Eighty-three  cases  occur. 

16.  The  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables  of  the  same  verse 
rime  with  the  sixth  or  twelfth  of  the  preceding  or  following 
line. 

Forty  cases  occur. 

II.     Hemistich  and  Hiatus. 

17.  Unstressed  words  at  the  Hemistich. 

a.     Mute  e. 

lorsque:  J'etais  ici  lorsqit^  vous  annon9a  Nanon.     3.  p.  135. 

4  pp.  6,  126,  143;  7.  p.  174 
puisqne,  3.  p.  190;  4  pp.  32,  99;  4  p.  192. 
que:  Eb  plus  nombreuses  qite  vo=i  baisers  froids  et  faux,    4  p. 

176.     4  p.  68;  5  p.  168;  9.  p.  145. 
ne:  On  sait  cela.     Vous  ne  supposez  pas,  pardieu!     3.  p.  170. 

b.     Prepositions. 

du:  On  n'y  parle  que  du  jeune  Prince,  on  est  fou.     4.  p.  145. 
sur:  Etincelait,  et  sur  sa  poitrine  cherie.     4.  p.  123;  5.  p.  69, 

80;  6.  p.  126;  9    p.  167. 
dans:  Pour  le  Prince!     Car  danfi  ma  poitrine  amaigrie.     4.  p. 

175;  4°.  p.  10;  5.  pp.  160, 174,  188;  7.  p.  46;  8.  p.  93. 
sous:  Sous  ton  hiver  et  sous  tes  neiges  implacables?    5.  p.  160; 

6.  p.  181;  8.  p.  121. 
par:  Lorsque  I'honneur  est  par  une  femme  outrage,    4.  p.  148. 
sans:  Et,  sans   colore   et   sans  terreur,  separons-nous,     3.  p. 

165;  5.  p.  80;  7.  p.  172. 

parmi,  avec,  and  pour  occur  frequently. 

chez:  Cette  femme  etait  chez  cet  homme, — c'est  affreux!     5. 

p.  192. 
vers:  Vers  la  defaite  et  vers  les  echafauds  dresses,     4.  p.  139; 

5.  p.  161. 

c.     Articles. 

un:  Un  devoument!  C'est  un  miracle,  en  verite,  1.  p.  155; 
2.  pp.  17,  250,  278;  4  pp.  24,  43,  151,  167,  204;  5. 
p.  151;  7.  p.  174;  9.  pp'.  143,  161. 


-B4~ 

les:  Meurs  en  volcans  pour  les  eagloufcir  sous  ta  lave!     7.  p. 

99;  2.  pp.  22,  118,  I'iS;  3.  p   231;  4.  pp  29,  43, 117, 

136;  5.  pp.  75,  81,  168,  195,  217;  6.  p.  227;  9.  pp. 

89,  166. 
des:  Das  po^te=i  et  des  douneurs  de  sereaades.     1.  p.  8;  4.  pp. 

166,  176;  5.  p.  198;  6.  p.  70;  7.  p.  57. 
le:  Ah!  I'dq  pourra,  pour  le  ravoir,  daas  les  faubourgs.     3.  p. 

172. 
la:  Je  suis  la  froide  et  la  mechante  souveraiae.      1.  p.  8;  1. 

pp.  29,  110,  142;  2.  p.  282;  4.  pp.  103,  136,  146;  5. 

pp.  13,  37,  105,  121,  128;  6.  pp.  12.  13,  149;  7.  pp. 

15,  31,  161;  8.  pp.  56,  210;  9.  p.  162. 
une:  Tu  t'alaaguis  dans  une  atmosphere  etoufPante.     5.  p.  53. 

5.  pp.  81,  106;  7.  pp.  20,  205.     In  all  these  exam- 
ples of  une  the  following  word  begins  with  a  vowel. 

au:  Le  montagnard,  mis  au  carcan  par  ces  bourreaux,     4.  p. 

240. 

d.     Pronouns. 

ta:  Et  Tor  p^le  de  ta  chevelure  pareil.     5.  p.  147. 

sa:  Et,  sous  I'ombre  de  sa  cagoule,  son  regard.     5.  p.  82;  9. 

p.  62. 
ma:  O  mon  amie!     O  ma  vaillante!  6  mon  epee!     2.  p.  292; 

6.  p.  83. 

tu:  Et  la  prenve  que  tu  demandes,  je  la  donne!     4^  p.  99;  9. 

p.  36. 
en:  Et  relisait,  tout  en  fumant  sa  cigarette.     7.  p.  6;  2.  p.  7; 

6.  p.  164. 
mon,  ton,  son:  Sans  voir,  helas!  dans  mon  aveuglement  stupide. 
4.  p.  205;  4.  p.  223;  5.  p.  169;  8.  p.  94;  9.  p.  86. 
Que  j'ai  souffle  sur  ton  imbecile  chim^re,     4°.  p.  95. 
A  celui,  qui  par  son  talent  dans  notre  etat,     2.  p.  56;  5. 
pp.  128,  158;  8.  p.  197;  9.  p.  163. 
vos,  nos:  Qui  s'interesse  a  vos  querelles  conjugales,     2.  p.  229. 
Plus  doux,  que  ferme  a  nos  desirs  audacieux,    5.  p.  14. 
ses,  mes,  ces,  tes:  Mais  j6  n'ai  pas  a  ses  discours  prete  I'oreille. 
1.  p.  124;  4.  p.  163;  4^  p.  3;  o.  pp.  75,  85;  7.  pp.  25, 
273. 
Que  je  portals  sous  mes  haillons,  par  les  chemins!     4.  p. 

140;  4.  pp.  141,  152;  5.  p.  214. 
Je  fais  jaillir  de  ces  quatre  planches  de  bois,     2.  p.  82;  5. 
pp.  155,  167,  174;  8.  p.  119;  9.  pp.  62,  160. 


—  35  — 

Je  ne  crois  plus  a  tes  sanglots:  il  est  trop  tard!    4.  p.  187. 
cet:  A  ce  naif,  a  cet  heureux,  a  ce  vainqueur,     6.  p.  23. 
cette:  De  ce  meurfcre,  de  cette  epouvaniable  chose.     4^  p.  95. 
nous,  vous:  occur  frequently. 

on:  On  y  dort;  et  si  Vo)i  a  froid  dans  son  sommeil,     1.  p.  12. 
leur:  Ah!  mis^re,  avec  leur  chimie,  ils  ont  raison,     9.  p.  56. 
me:  La  gamine  que  me  restait,  mon  Octavie,     9.  p.  162. 
y:  C'est  monstrueux!  Je  iiy  crois  pas,  sur  mon  tombeau,    4. 

p.  204. 

e.     Miscellaneous  Words, 
a:  D'aujourd  'hui,  puisqu'on  a  deploye  son  enseigne   4.  p.  141. 
peu:  lis  ont  besoin  d'un  peu  d'ombre  et  de  quelque  source, 

5.  p.  139;  8.  pp.  62,  151. 
pas:  A  la  besogne,  et  pas  un  instant  de  perdu!     2.  p.  253;  4. 

p.  138;  4".    p.  16. 
si:  Te  consoler!  Oh,  si  mon  amour  le  pouvait!     4^  p.  87;  1. 

p.  54;  7.  p.  206. 

f.     Compound  Words. 
Voila  tout.  Pardonnez-moi  doQC  cette  infamie.     2.  p.  8. 
Et  le  vieil  opera-comique  d'autrefois.     2.  p.  45. 
Et  viguier  de  Saint- Jean-de-Luz  en  pays  basque.     2.  p.  146. 
Seigneur  de  Saint-Martin- de8-Foss6s,  capitaine.     3.  p.  6. 
Jure  alors,  6  ma  bien-aimee!     Oui,  je  le  jure!     3.  p.  140. 
Elle  a  raison,  mon  bien-aime!     Fuyons  ensemble!     3.  p.  247. 
C'etait  le  tour  de  Gian-Battista  Torelli,     4.  p.  7. 
Et  vos  a'ieux,  6  Mac-Fingalls,  pour  mon  aieul!     4.  p.   134. 
II  en  arrive  a  I'eau-de-vie,  et  c'est  la  fin.     9.  p.  52. 
C'est  son  cousin,  Qu'en  as-tu  fait?     A  la  Bastille,     3.  p.  116. 

18.     Hiatus. 

Les  piquets  de  uhlans  galopant  dans  la  rue.     1.  p.  188. 
Sous  le  joug  allemaud,  et  que  nous  en  souffrons.      1.  p.  85. 
Comme  ils  sont  enroues!     Est-ce  de  sang  humainf    4.  p.  119. 

III.     Overflow  and  Rythm. 

20.     Overflow. 

a.     Liaison. 

1.     Mute  e :  Fouaillant  derridre  toi  mes  limiers  pour  te  mordre 
Aux  jarabes.    Maintenant   je  t'avais  donn^  I'ordre. 
5.  p.  82;  2.  pp.  84,  197;  5.  pp.  190,  202;  6.  p. 
112;  7.  pp.  7,  53,  114. 


—  36  — 

2.  Liaison  of  s;  A  le  laisser  partir,  celui-la,  si  jamais 

II  vient  dans  mon  jardin  fatal.  1.  p.  9;  1.  pp.  52, 
156;  2.  pp.  193,  199;  3.  pp.  21,  31,  63,  75;  4. 
pp.  49,  88;  4°.  pp.  12,  90;  5.  pp.  16,  72,  136-7, 
156,  157,  159,  167,  '200;  6.  p.  11;  7.  pp.  22,46, 
94,  272-3;  8.  pp.  47,  99,  186,  197;  9.  pp.35,  92. 

3.  Liaison  of  t:  Et  quand,  par  les  beaux  soirs,  un  instant  elle 

ouvrait — A  la  brise  de  mai.  5.  pp.  33;  1.  pp.  32,  33, 
49,  53,  60,  125,  175;  2.  pp.  66,  67,  138,  229,317; 
3.  pp.  6,  22,  56-7,  104  112,  154,  190;  4.  pp.  57, 
62,  188.  198;  6.  p.  164;  7.  pp.  12,  14,  69,  90, 
111,  125,  144,  162,  179,  180,  267;  8.  pp.  28,  31, 
47,  59,  63. 

4.  Liaison  of  d:  Sous  le  pied  du  vainqueur,  fremissante  se 

tord— Et  se  relive.     2.  p.  290. 

b.     Weak  words  at  rime. 

1.     Noun  followed  by  an  adjective. 

Ce  que  vous  avez  pris  sans  doute  pour  des  mots — 

Melodieux.     1.  p.  14. 
vie  — Somptueuse,  1.  p.  26;  atmosphere — Funeste,  1.  p.  26. 
diamant — Enorme,  1.  p.  32;  bruits — Sinistres,  2.  p.  277. 
truie — Pleine,  2.  p  282;  erreur — Possible,  4.  p.  188. 
musicienne — Mysterieuse,  5.  p.  12;  traces — Sanglantes,  5.  p.  60* 
posture — Defensive,  5.  p.  216;  douceur — Penetrante,  6.  p.  41. 
Indienne — Souriante,  6.  p.  53. 

3.     Prepositions. 

Que  j 'avals  un  amour  dans  le  eoeur,  que  parmi     2.  p.  86. 

Hors  du  coffret  de  laque,  aux  clous  d' argent,  parmi     5.  p.  61. 

Venait  d'etre  creee,  et  reposait  parmi     7.  p.  79. 

Je  te  brave.  Peux-tu  me  faire  mal,  aprds     7.  p.  82. 

El  j'ai  le  front  tr^s  pale;  et  cependant,  malgre     5.  p.  9. 

Ou  chaque  soir,  tenant  son  violon,  derri^re     6.  p.  27. 

4.     Noun  or  adjective  followed  by  a  preposition  and  noun 
or  adjective. 

Merci.  J'ai  soupe  tard  et  je  n'ai  plus  envie — De  dormir     1. 

p.  14. 
chose — De  grave,  2.  p.  147;  vassal— D'Hartecelle,     2.  p.  156. 
foire— De  Vitre,  2.  p.  164;  labeur — De  la  guerre,     2.  p.  166. 


—  37  — 

ton— D'ironie,  2.  p.  212;  Batard— De  Madrid,     2.  p.  225. 
patrimoine — Du  soldat,  2.  p.  226;  verre — De  cervoise,  2.  p.  260. 
centaine — De  pourceaux,  2.  p.  281;  lambeau — De  sol,  2.  p.  318. 
pierre — De  foyer,  3.  p.  30;  Marquise — De  Maintenon,  3.  p.  102. 
fr^re — D'Antoine,  3.  p.  234;  lumiere — Du  soleil,     4.  p.  47. 
repaire — De  parfaits,  4.  p.  95;  commandeur — De  broyants,  4°. 

p.  38. 
veuve — De  Michel,  4".  p.  99;  plancher — De  la  barque,    5.  p.  30. 
banni^re — De  Saint-Denis,  5.  p.  39;  chemin — De  I'eglise,     5. 

p.  40-1. 
subtilites — Du  sophisme,  5.  p.  59;  chale — De  noce,     7.  p.  12. 
rouet — De  sa  m^re,  7.  p.  14;  sourates — Du  Koran,     7.  p.  100. 
sectaires — Du  Kobal,  7.  p.  102;  souffleur — D'un  theatre,     8. 

p.  23. 
chevet — De  sa  femme,  8.  p.  24;  bord — D'un  fauteuil,    8.  p.  91. 
I'heure — Du  depart,  8.  p.  186;  jour — De  septembre,    8.  p.  186. 
coquine — De  soif,  9.  p.  32;  pensee — De  Marc,     9.  p.  61. 
pleine — De  I'immense  regret,  7.  p.  47. 

5.     Unaccented  Words. 

Voila  comme — On  se  montre,     2.  p.  256. 

sinon — De  pauvres  vieux,     9.  p.  89. 

elle  est — Catholique,     4.  p.  121. 

II  a — Les  femmes,     4.  p.  130. 

mais  Sainte-Beuve,  mais — Musset,     5.  p.  115. 

et  j'ai — Le  regret,     6.  p.  111. 

je  n'  ai  pu — Travailler,     3.  p.  21. 

vous  pouvez — Amener,     3.  p.  34. 

Vous  etes — Sur  de  vos  hommes,     2.  p.  231. 

que  ne  gene — Pas  du  tout;     5.  p.  110. 

qu'on  ne  pouvait — Trouver,     9.  p.  57. 

c.     Romantic  Rythms. 

1.     Overflow  causes  Romantic  rythm.* 

48: on  Faccouda 

Dans  les  coussins,  devant  cette  fraiche  nature,     8.  p.  37. 
75:  Son  titre  et  son  brevet  de  malade  ordinaire 

Avec  ses  quinze  cents  livres  de  pension,     3.  p.  81. 

1  cf .     L.  de  Lisle. 


—  38  — 

552:  Qu'un  souvenir,  un  seul,  au  moment  de  mourir, 

Le  faisait  encor  plus  cruellement  souffrir;     6.  p.  188. 

183:  Noble  ou  vilain  soldat  de  race  ou  de  fortune 

Dorment  sous  le  regard  glacial  de  la  lune     2.  p.  128. 

93:    .     .     .     Pour  moi,  qui  suis,  de  pied  en  cap, 

Le  plus  disgracieux  gentilhomme  de  France,      2.  p.  165. 

The  following  rythms  are  found  in  overflow:  444,  453, 
354,  435,  548,  534,  345,  264,  462,  255,  366,  273,  174,  84,  48, 
372,  75,  282,  552,  183,  93,  57. 

2.  Romantic  rythms  not  found  in  overflow.  Copp^e 
uses  twenty-four  varieties  of  Romantic  rythm;  only  two,  633, 
363,  do  not  occur  in  overflow. 

21.  Use  of  Rythms.^  Inasmuch  as  I  am  unable  to  de- 
tect any  tendency  on  the  part  of  Goppee  to  use  the  Classic  and 
Romantic  rythms,  or  either  rythm,  separately,  in  any  form  of 
series  for  effect,  as  we  have  observed  in  the  poetry  of  of  L.  de 
Lisle  and  de  Heredia,  I  shall  give  the  only  example  found  in 
which  the  influence  of  L.  de  Lisle  is  noticeable.  In  the  fol- 
lowing verses  there  is  an  intentional  effort  noticeaole  to  make 
sense  and  rythm  harmonize: 

C'est  une  pauvre  vieille, 

Toujours  en  deuil,  devote,  ascetique,  pareille  4233 

Aux  beguines  qu'on  voit  errer  dans  le  convent.  354 

Libre!     Pauvre  ame  simple  et  douce!     Bien  souvent  444 

Elle  songe,  tr^s  triste,  a  son  cher  esclavage,  336 

Et,  tout  bas,  d'une  voix  sourde,  presque  sauvage,  345 

Elledit:  "II  est  mort!"     Puis  elle  s'attendrit,  3315 

Et  reprend:  "II  avait  deja  beaucoup  d'esprit.  354 

Quand  il  etait  mechant,  il  m'appelait  maaame.  4242 

II  est  mort!     Le  bon  Dieu  I'a  pris.     La  petite  ame  3324 

A  des  ailes.     II  est  un  ange  au  paradis.  354 

Sans  quoi  serait-il  mort?     Quelquefois  je  me  dis  2433 

Que  Dieu  prend  les  enfants  pour  en  faire  des  anges.  3333 

Puis  il  avait  des  mots  et  des  regards  etranges:  1542 

Peut-etre  qu'il  etait  ange  avant  d'etre  ne  ?  255 

Tes  pleurs  de  chaque  jour,  6  pauvre  condamne,  246 

Talent  bien  tons  les  longs  Oremus  qu'on  prodigue,  363 

icf.    L.  de  Lisle. 


—  39  — 

Puis  un  signe  de  croix  etait  une  fatigue  1524 

Pour  son  bras.     II  savait  souffrir,  et  non  prier.  354 

II  est  mort!     Une  nuit  je  I'attendait  crier.  3342 

J'accourus,  je  penchai  la  tete  vers  sa  couche,  3324 

Et  sa  derni^re  haleine  a  passe  sur  ma  bouche,  633 

Efc  depuis  ce  temps-la  je  n'ai  plus  de  gaite.  3333 

Le  lendemain,  des  gens  sombres  Pont  emporte.  435 
5.  pp.  33-34. 

The  irregularity  of  the  rythms  is  at  once  apparent;  the 
effect  desired  is  not  always  obtained.  The  last  line,  however, 
is  a  happy  one,  inasmuch  as  the  long,  heavy,  uneven  435-time 
corresponds  to  the  logical  sense  expressed.  This  is  one  of  the 
finest  passages  in  Coppee. 

SULLY  PRUDHOMME, 

I.       E/IME. 

1.  cf.  remarks  on  L.  de  Lisle. 

2.  Masculine  and  feminine  rimes  with  same  assonance. 
Only  one  example  occurs. 

maree — pousses — egaree — emousses,     5.  p.  197. 

3.  Voiced  and  voiceless  s  as  consonne  d'appui.  This  is 
found  occasionally  only. 

4.  Final  s  pronounced  and  unpronounced. 
volubilis — des  lis,  2.  p.  201;  polls — des  lis,  5.  p.  55. 

plis — lis,  4.  p.  195;  jadis — des  lis,  5.  p.  375;  jadis — Themis, 

4.  p.  223. 
jadis — myosotis;  3.  p.  172;  je  vis  — fils,  5.  p.  129. 
dos — d'os,  1.  p.  249;  os — chaos,  5.  p.  360;  des  os — repos,  2. 

p.  38. 
r Angelus — ne  reste  plus,  2.  p.  195 ;  Venus — le  plus,  3.  p.  142. 
pas — helas,  1.  p,  107. 

The  pronunciation  is  not  fixed  in  some  words. 

5.  Short  and  long  or  close  and  open  o. 

6.  Short  and  long  assonance. 

Gr^ce — ^jeunesse,  1.  p.  77;  jeunesse — renaisse,  2.  p.  66. 
esse — aisse  are  frequent. 


—  40  — 

7.  Short  and  long  a. 

flammes — ames,  1.  p.  42; 
ame — ame  occurs  frequently. 

8.  Long  e,  ^  and  short  e. 

fr^e— elle,  3.  p.  73;  reflate— violette,  2.  p.  127. 

concevrai — du  vrai,  1.  p.  182. 

aile — elle  occurs  frequently,     cf.  L.  de  Lisle. 

9.  Single  vowel  riming  with  diphthong. 

creux — Dieu,  1.  p.  167;  Dieu — feu,  1.  p.  39. 
These  are  not  frequent. 

10.  Rime- words  with  different  final  consonants. 

d — t:  frequent,     cf.  L.  de  L. 

t — g:  sang — puissant,  2.  p.  104;  3.  p.  109;  sang — impuissant, 

2.  p.  186.  sang— fremissant,  1.  pp.  172,    230,  255, 

264;  2.  p.  205. 
t — c:  blanc — tremblant,  5.  p.  271. 
p — t:  champ — mechant,  3.  p.  116. 
u — p:  coup — cou,  1.  p.  245. 

g — c:  sang — banc,  2.  p.  203;  sang — blanc,  2.  p.  220;  3.  p.  72. 
d — r:  nectar — tard,  4.  p.  159. 
n — t:  horizon — le  front,  5.  p.  248. 

11.  Adverb  and  adjective  in  rime. 

12.  Noun  and  adjective  in  rime. 

13.  Rime  at  the  hemistich. 
Seventy-two  cases  occur. 

14.  Rime  at  the  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables. 
Five  cases  occur. 

15.  The  hemistich  rimes  with  the  rime- word  of  the  pre- 
ceding or  following  line. 

Thirty-one  cases  occur. 

16.  The  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables  of  the  same  verse 
rime  with  the  sixth  or  twelfth  of  the  preceding  or  following 
line. 

No  examples  found. 


—  41  — 

II.  Hemistich  and  Hiatus. 

17.  Unstressed  words  at  the  hemistich. 

a.     Mute  e. 

b.     Prepositions. 

There  are  no  unstressed  prepositions  at  the  hemistich  in 
Prudhomme's  poetry;  parmi  occurs  twice,  2.  pp.  109,  149; 
avec  twice,  4.  p.  221;  5.  p.  271;  malgre  once,  2.  p.  86;  apr^s 
once,  2.  p.  100,  and  these  are  permissible. 

c.     Articles. 

d>     Miscellaneous  Words. 

Mais  leur  oeuvre  les  a  supplantes  dans  mon  coeur,  5.  p.  296. 

18.  Hiatus.^ 

Does  not  occur. 

Oublieuse  des  sons,  lampait  le  sang  humam.     3.  p.  82. 
Imposant  I'accalmie  au  forum  agite     5.  p.  122, 
Et  sous  ses  voiles  fuir  son  joug  mperieux,     5.  p.  126. 
Laissaient  leurs  bras  d'un  sang  epais  remplis,  5.  p.  237. 
Moderateur,  il  s'arme,  entre  les  camps  extremes,     5.  p.  248. 

III.  Overflow  and  Rythm. 

19.  Overflow. 

a.     Liaison.^ 

1.     Mute  e. 

Elle  salue  en  toi  le  premier  qui  stit  rendre 

Aux  yeux  pour  la  campagne  un  regard  attendri,     5.  p.  129. 

2.     Liaison  of  s. 

II  n'est  plus  d'Amerique  ou  s'enfuir;  les  vaisseaux 

Ont  fait  de  leur  sillage     ...  1.  p.  262. 

Ces  blonds  cheveux  noues?  Ah!  que  de  fois  ses  pleurs 

Accuseront  les  Dieux     ...  5.  p.  57. 

Regarde-les  bien  tons,  car  leurs  traits  et  leurs  teints 

Avaient  peri     ...  5.  p.  190. 

1,  3  cf.     L.  de  Lisle. 


—  42  — 

3.     Liaison  of  t. 

En  s'y  posant,  I'oreille,  helas,  eut  decouvert 
Un  coeur  d'homme     ...  1.  p.  125; 

1.  pp.  98,  132;  2.  pp.  63,  178;  4.  p.  273;  5.  p.  297. 

b.     Weak  words  at  rime. 

1.  Noun  followed  by  an  adjective. 

Et  quel  triomphe  alorsl  quelle  felicite 

Or^ueilleuse     ...  3.  p.  4. 

2.  Adjective  followed  by  a  noun. 

3.  Prepositions. 

4.  Noun  or  adjective  followed  by  a  preposition  and  noun 
or  adjective. 

c.     Bomantic  rythms. 

1.  Overflow  causes  Romantic  rythm.^ 

The  following  rythms  occur  in  overflow:  444,  453,  354, 
264,  363,  273. 

2.  Rythms  not  found  in  overflow.^ 

20.     Use  of  Rythms.' 

Prudhomme  employs  the  Classic  rythm  almost  exclusively, 
and  only  accidentally  falls  into  a  Romantic  time;  never,  how- 
ever, does  he  employ  it  in  a  series.  I  can  find  no  series  of 
regular  runs  in  his  Classic  system  such  as  are  found  in  L.  de 
Lisle  and  de  Heredia. 

PAUL  VERLAINE. 
I.     Rime. 

1.  Verlaine  observes  no  rules  regarding  rime  riche. 

2.  Masculine  and  feminine  rimes  with  the  same  asso- 
nance. 

ecarte — beaute — offensee — pensee,   J.,  pp.  53-4, 138, 158;  Ch., 

p.  29. 
depit — prit — amie — mie,  J.,  p.  55;  De.,  p.  37. 
vie — en  vie — midi — attiedi,  J.,  p.  70;  Bo.,  p.  64. 
faire — av^re — hiver — bier,  J,,  p.  41. 

\  8,  cf.     L.  de  Lisle. 
*  cf ,     Statistics. 


—  43  — 

3.  Voiced  and  voiceless  s  as  consonne  d'appui. 

Such  rimes  as  aux  yeux — des  cieux  occur  frequently. 

4.  Final  s  pronounced  aod  unpronounced.^ 

09 — roseaux,  S.,  p.  39;  I'os — Carlos,  S.,  p.  136. 

helas — bras,  R.,  p.  49;  helas — las,  R.,  p.  45  (frequent). 

helas — Moreas,  De.,  p.  15;  helas — Faublas,  S.,  p.  66. 

jadis — De  profundis,  Am.,  p.  165;  jadis — courage  de  dix,  Bo., 

p.  109. 
jadis — a   Soixante-dix,  De.,  p.  9;  jadis — paradis,  J.,  p.  38; 

Am.,  p.  156. 
cris — fils,  Sa.,  p.  61. 

5.  Short  and  long  or  close  and  open  o. 

6.  Short  and  long  assonance. 

caisse — presse,  J.,  p.  31.     Rimes  in  aisse — esse  are  frequent. 

7.  Short  and  long  a. 

ame — femme,  J. ,  p.  91.     These  rimes  occur  often. 

8.  Long  e  6  and  short  e. 

je  sais — fricasses.  P.,  p.  74;  sais — exc^s.  Bo.,  p.  18;  O.,  p.  44. 
lettre — peut-etre,  J.,  p.  139;  les — laids,  J.,  p.  123.     cf.   L. 
de  Lisle. 

9.  Single  vowel  riming  with  a  diphthong, 
dieu — feu,  E.,  p.  6.     Such  rimes  are  frequent. 

10.  Rime-words  with  different  final  consonants. 

d — t:  (frequent). 

p — t:  couchant — champ,  Sa.,  p.  21;  galop — trot,  De.,  p.  193. 

tout — beaucoup,  De.,  p.  213;  coup — tout,  Sa.,  p.  29. 
g — b:  long — plomb,  J.,  p.  133. 
g — c:  flanc — sang,  S.,  p.  135;  J.,  p.  99;  Bo.,  p.  50. 

sang — blanc,  Am.,  p.  18;  sang — franc,  De.,  p.  49. 
c — d:  done— fond.  P.,  p.  100. 
h — t:  zenith — granit,  S.,  p.  130. 

Peculiar  rimes. 

Salon — I'on,  J.,  p.  135;  6 — roseau,  Am.,  p.  76. 

une — Commune,  Am.,  p.  97;  De  ,  p.  75;  la — la.  Bo.,  p.  23 

femmes — melodrame,  P.,  p.  8;  legeres  — ch^re,  C,  p.  45. 

^  cf .  remarks  L.  de  Lisle. 


—  44  — 

qu'une — opportune,  Bo  ,  p.  53;  qu'un — parfum,  O.,  p.  8. 
on — accordeon,  E.,  p.  9;  ce — le,  E.,  p.  33;  ce — que,  Li.,  p.  26. 
si  on — consolation,  Li.,  p.  31; 
leurre — heur,  Ep.,  pp.  13,  25; 

rouge — bouche,  De.,  p.  54.     Only  example  of  mere  assonance, 
and  this  is  in  an  octosyllabic  verse. 

Identical  words  in  rime. 

^me — ame.  Am.,  p.  153;  lit — lit,  P.,  p.  23. 

corps — corps.  P.,  p.  83;  certes — certes,  P.,  p.  120. 

plus — plus,  Bo.,  p.  15;  les — les,  L.,  p.  23. 

hideur — hideur,  L.,  p.  48;  vaincs — vaincs,  L.,  p.  48. 

Overflowing  rimes. 

En  fait  d' amour!  Tu  ressuscite — 

Rais  defunt,  le  bandant  pour 

Le  deduit  dont  Venus  dit:  Sit!  O.,  p.  51. 

Pour  aimer  et  chercher  le  qu'en — 

Dira-t-on,  et:  zut  pour  ce  zeste!  Li.,  p.  39. 

Voyez  de  Banville,  et  voyez  Lecon — 

Te  de  Lisle,  et  t6t  pratiquons  leur  con — 

Duite  et  soyons, De.,  p.  24. 

Si  je  n' avals  I'orgueil  de  vous  avoir,  a  ta — 

Ble  d'h6te,  vue  ainsi  que  tel  ou  tel  rasta  De.,  p.  109. 

D'etre  gr^ce  a  votre  talent  de  femme  exquise — 

Ment  amusante. De.,  p.  110 

11.  Adverb  and  adjective  in  rime. 

12.  Noun  and  adjective  in  rime. 

13.  Rime  at  tlie  hemistich. 
Twenty  cases  occur. 

14.  Rime  at  the  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables. 
Nineteen  examples  occur. 

15.  The  hemistich  rimes  with  the  rime- word  of  the  pre- 
ceding or  following  line. 

Thirteen  examples  occur. 


—45  — 

16.  The  sixth  and  twelfth  syllables  of  the  same  verse 
rime  with  the  sixth  or  twelfth  of  the  preceding  or  following 
line. 

Twenty-one  cases  occur. 

II.     Hemistich  and  Hiatus. 

17.  Unstressed  words  at  the  hemistich. 

a.     Mute  e. 

elle:  Un   rendez-vous. Elle  ne  put  la  dechirer.       J.,  p.   139; 

Bo.,  p.  44;  De.,  p.  148. 
En  louant  Dieu,  comme  Gars  de  toutes  choses!     Sa.,  p. 

26;  E.,  p.  45;  De.,  p.  32. 
Hymes  brulants,  d'une  theologie  intense.    L.,  p.  34;  P., 

p.  60;  E.,  p.  42;  Li.,  p.  11;  De.,  p.  163. 
O,  va  prier  contre  Forage,  va  prier.     Sa.,  p.  22;  Am.,  p. 

124. 
que:  Diaphanes  et  qwe  le  clair  de  lune  fait     S.,  p.  50. 

Pour  vous  dire  quoi  qite  ce  soit  de  deplaisant,     J.,  p.  69; 

J.,  p.  154;  Am.,  p.  100;  De.,  pp.  74,  110,  129,  207; 

P.,  p.  55;  Bo.,  p.  88;  C,  p.  33;  O.,  pp.  38,  47;  E., 

pp.  14,  19,  47. 
contre,  Sa.,  p.  22;  Am.,  p.  124;  ame,  Am.,  p.  98;  De.,  p.  76. 
encore,  E.  pp.  3,  19;  alme,  E.,  p.  51;  p^le,  Am.,  p.  76; 
jusqwes.  Am.,  p.  123;  choses,  Am.,  p.  146;  puisqi^e,  Am., 

p.  147; 
cette.  P.,  p.  83;  Muses,  P.,  p.  85;  d'elles,  P.,  p.  105;  douce. 

Bo.,  p.   45;  juste.   Bo.,  p.   65;  mette.  Bo.,   p.    105; 

quatre-vingt-treize,  Bo.,  p.  105;  place,  Bo.,  p.  106; 

rude,  O.,  p.  11; 
reste,  E.,  p.  10;  Laisse-moi,  E.,  p.  27;  humble,  E.,  p.  30; 
suivre,  E.  p.  43;  quelqwe,  E.,  p.  43;  digne,  De.,  p.  30; 
bavardes,  Li.,  p.  16;  meme,  Li.,  p.  17;  misses,  De.,  p.  27; 
cause,  De.,  p.  92;  etre,  De.,  p.  97;  lourde,  De.,  p.  163; 
grande,De.,  p.  187;  roses,  De.,  p.  207;  presqwe,  De.,  p.  208. 

b.     Prepositions. 

Owing  to  the  great  number  and  variety  of  examples  found 
in  Verlaine's  poetry,  I  simply  give  the  statistics. 

There  are  25  cases  of  de,  2  of  du,  8  of  sur,  13  of  dans,  2 
of  sous,  9  of  par,  1  of  vers;  sans,  avec,  pour  occur  frequently. 


—  46  — 

c.     Articles. 

19  cases  of  un,  16  of  des,  14  of  les,  25  of  le,  34  of  la,  3 
of  une. 

d.     Pronouns. 

6  cases  of  je,  one  of  ta,  8  of  sa,  8  of  tu,  12  of  en,  2  of  qui, 
11  of  mon,  6  of  ton,  8  of  son,  4  of  vos,  7  of  nos,  5  of  ses,  8  of 
mes,  5  of  ces,  one  of  cet,  6  of  on,  one  of  elle,  7  of  me,  4  of  te, 
8  of  ce,  4  of  il,  one  of  ils. 

e.     Miscellaneous  Words. 

12  cases  of  a,  3  of  peu,  2  of  ni,  3  of  pas,  one  of  oii,  ou,  17 
of  et,  2  of  6,  4  of  y,  5  of  si,  6  of  plus,  4  of  tr^s,  one  of  trop,  eh. 

f.     Compound  Words. 

Peche  contre  le  Saint-Esprit,  que  rien  n'expie,  De.,  p.  78. 
De  moi-meme,  ce  moi-meme  qui  fut  horrible,  De.,  p.  145. 
Elles  s'arretent  tour-a-tour,  posant  leur  tete,     Sa.,  p.  115. 

g.     Overflowing  Hemistich. 

Before  Verlaine  there  is  no  verse  found  in  which  the  word 
did  not  end  at  the  hemistich;  in  the  Romantic  verse  the  logical 
sense  did  not  end  at  the  hemistich,  but  the  word  always  did. 
With  Verlaine,  then,  there  begins  a  new  method  of  verse  struc- 
ture. In  L.  de  Lisle  and  Coppee  verses  are  found  in  which 
the  hemistich  ends  in  que,  as  puisque,  but  there  are  no  exam- 
ples with  an  overflowing  hemistich.^ 

1.     On  the  first  syllable. 

Puis  franchement  et  stmplement  viens  a  ma  table.     Sa.,  p.  79. 
Brouille  I'espoir  que  votre  voix  me  revela,     Sa. ,  p.  82. 

There  are  218  examples  of  overflowing  hemistich  on  the 
first  syllable. 

2.     On  the  second  syllable. 

Avec  du  sang  deshonore  d'encre  a  leurs  mains,  Sa.,  p.  11. 
De  noce  auront  der^rgine  leurs  nuits  depuis!     J.,  p.  111. 

Sixty -four  cases  occur. 

^  In  Theodore  de  Banville's  poetry  there  are  a  few  examples  of 
an  overflowing  hemistich. 


—  47  — 

3.     On  the  third  syllable. 

D'nne  joie  extraordinaire:  votre  voix,     Sa.,  p.  81. 
Et  quelque  responsabilite  d'Empereur.     Am.,  p.  114. 
Tescroquerie,  P.,  p.  83;  particularites,  P.,  p.  105. 
indifferemment,  Bo.,  p.  88;  ravigores,  L.,  p.  27. 
devotions,  L.,  p.  24;  parisienne,  E.,  p.  15;  observation,  E., p.  28; 
s'accommoderaient,  E.  p.  24;  precisement,  E.,  p.  44; 
telativement,  E.,  p.  52;  position,  Li.,  p.  6;  pudiquement,  Li., 

p.  30; 
immortalite,  D.,  p.  10;  Eliogabal,  De.,  p.  36;  imperceptibilite, 

De.,  p.  208;  intention,  De.,  p.  210. 

4.     On  the  fourth  syllable. 
Vers  les  declamations  par  la  Pauvrete,     Bo.,  p.  109. 

5.     On  the  fifth  syllable. 
Et  I'insatiabilite  de  leur  desir,     P.,  p.  106. 

18.  Hiatus. 

Verlaine  uses  the  popular  forms  t'as,  t'es,  and  which  are 
also  found  in  old  French  poetry. 

In  eight  and  six-syllable  verses: 

T'as  raison!  Aime-moi  done  mieux.     P.,  p,  27. 
J'ai  chaud,  t'as  chaud,  dormons!     C,  p.  12. 
lis  me  disent  que  t'es  mechante.     O.,  p.  53. 
Tant  (cinquante  ans!)  et  t'es  en  route.     De.,  p.  86. 

In  Alexandrine: 

Mieux  depuis  que  t'es  la.   Zut,  avec  ton  banal     Li.,  p.  8-9. 
D'accord.  Corabien  veux  tu?  Tout  ce  que  t'as  sur  toi,  E.,p.  36. 
T'es  bete,  quand  je  ris  tu  geins,  toi,  t'as  du  vague.     Li.,  p.  9. 
T'es  gentil  quand  moi  la,  moi  pas  la  tout  arrive!     Li.,  p.  11. 

Nive  oui,  n'est-ce  pas,  vienne  cette  existence!     L. ,  p.  38. 
Vue,  ouie  et  dans  tout  son  etre — helas!  dans  tout.     Sa.,  p.  76. 

III.        OVEKFLOW    AND    RyTHM. 

19.  Overflow. 

a.     Liaison. 

1.  Mute  e. 

2.  Liaison  of  s. 
Tu  ne  sens  pas  la  chair,  ce  gout  au  moins 


—  48  — 

Exhalent  celles-la S.,  p.  95. 

Et  toi,  Vertu  sans  pair,  presqu'  Une,  n'es-tu  pas 

Humaine  en  meme  temps Bo. ,  p.  7. 

Souvent,  disputent  tres  souvent,  graves,  car  elles 

Avaient  pour  sanction,  las! E.,  p.  49. 

Ou  sont-ils?  Mais  ou  sont  aussi  les  tout  petits 

Evenements De.,  p.  9.    | 

3.     Liaison  of  t 

A  tout  carnage,  a  tout,  devastement,  a  tout 

Egorgement  d'un  bout  du  monde  a  F autre  bout!     S.,  p.  6;  S., 

pp.  4,  6;  F.,  p.  52;  Sa.,  p.  15;  J.,  pp.  77,  78,  79; 

Am.,  p.  77;  E.,  pp.  2,  47;  Li.,  p.  6. 

4.     Liaison  of  n. 

On  s'amusait  beaucoup  dans  la  boutique  et  on 
Entendit  des  soupirs  voisins  d'accordeon.     E.,  p.  9. 

b.     Weak  words  at  the  rime. 

1.     Noun  followed  by  an  adjective. 

La  Force  maintenant  la  Force,  c'est  la  Bete 
Feroce S.,  p.  6. 

Podmes  Saturniens. 

houle — Marine,  p.  6;  hauteurs — Ineffables,  p.  6. 
champs — Nourriciers,  p.  25;  portales — Siciliennes,  p.  25; 
groupes — Harmonieux,  p.  144. 

Jadis  et  Naguere. 

carcasse — Humaine,  p.  17;  moires — Lumineuses,  p.  23; 
images — Violentes,  p.  24;  moments — Premiers,  p.  54; 
retours — Apparents,  p.  64;  vengeance — Supreme,  p.  68; 
tgte— Folle,  p.  69;  festin  -Horrible,  p.  96; 
hantise — Diabolique,  p.  129;  sions — Celestes,  p.  136; 
pas — Mysterieux,  p.  136;  chose — Unique,  p.  158. 

Amour. 

joie — Eternelle,  p.  8;  copie — Exquise,  p.  37; 

fleuves — Consolateurs,  p.  76;  paumes — Lumineuses,  p.  82; 

mort — Delicieuse,  p.  123;  gloire — Eternelle,  p.  159; 


—  49  — 

Elegies. 

feu — Jovial,  p.  6;  personne — Physique,  p.  23; 
histoire — Connue,  p.  29;  rideau— Tire,  p.  30. 
pepite — Serieuse,  p.  31;  gravelures — Japonaises,  p.  33; 
rieur — Imbecile,  p.  40;  menage — Bizarre,  p.  48; 

Dedicaces. 

Courage — Ordinaire,  p.  96;  Kibaud    -Imberbe,  p.  137; 
vie — Tumultueuae,  p.  201;  reine — Captive,  p.  209. 
soins — Imperieux,  F.,  p.  41;  rose — Immense,  Sa.,  p.  75. 
calice — Eternel,  Sa.,  p.  80;  amour— Divin,  Bo.,  p.  31; 
rapports — Necessaires,  Bo.,  p.  73;  Parfum — Capiteux, O. , p. 8. 
saison — Derni^re,  Li.,  p'.  15. 

2.  Adjective  followed  by  a  noun. 

Ces  toits  de  tuile  sous  ces  verdures,  le  vain 

Appareil  des  ramparts, Sa.,  p.  126. 

matinal — Appel,  Sa.,  p.  17;  roses — Pompons,  S.,  p.  63; 
aucun — Arome,  S.,  p.  95;  tout — Egorgement,  S.,  p.  6. 
aile — Voyageur,  S.,  p.  100;  delicieux — Ressouvenir,  S.,  p.  142; 
premiere — Querelle,  J.,  p.  69;  cruelle — Reticense,  J.,  p.  46; 
douce — Amie,  J.,  p.  57;  vieux — Gar9on,  J.,  p.  77; 
derniers — Moments,  J.,  p.  78;  derniere — Analyse,  J.,  p.  151. 
gentil — Babil,  Am.,  p.  69;  impie — Peche,  Am.,  p.  96; 
horrible — Degout,  Am  ,  p.  112;  reelle — Intelligence,  Am.,  p. 

147. 
blanc — Incendie,  P.,  p.  82;  vieux — Abus,  Bo.,  p.  26; 
m^me — Charite,  Bo.,  p.  31;  belle — Hebaide,  Bo.,  p.  35; 
extreme — Fraternite,  Bo.,  p.  48;  frivoles — Preoccupations,  O., 

p.  12; 
petit — Pepia,  O.,  p.  18;  Graves —Moments,  E.,  p.  17; 
obliques — Detours,  E.,  p.  21;  grand — But,  Li.,  p.  1. 
rouge — Bouche,  De.,  p.  151;  seule — Chose,  De.,  p.  207. 
petits — Ev^nements,  De.,  p.  9. 

3.  Prepositions. 

Et  s'accoudant  au  pont  de  la  Cite,  devant — Notre-Dame,  S., 
p.  113. 

The  following  prepositions  occur  at  the  rime: 

pour  seven  times,   sur  twice,  parmi  twice,   chez   twice, 
jusqu'aux,  vers,  dans,  apr^s  once. 


—  50  — 

4.  Noun  or  adjective  followed  by  a  preposition  and  noun 
or  adjective. 

Crevant  les  mauvais  arguments  comme  ces  bulles — De  Savon, 

De.,  p.  217. 
le  moins — De  taches,  Bo.,  p.  62;  tant — De  fois,  De.,  p.  202. 

Unaccented  words.  % 

Et,  pour  sa  voix,  lointaine,  et  calme,  et  grave,  elle  a — L'in- 

flexion.  S.,  pp.  22,  71. 
comme— Des  hirondelles,  S.,  p.  24;  J.,  pp.  12,  91,  137,  140. 
tons — Ces  spectres,  S.,  p.  51;  Sa.,  p.  75;  J.,  p.  46;  tout — Son 
espoir,  Sa.,  p.  76;  de  tout — Mon  etre,  L.,  p.  53;  toutes— Ces 
gloires,  J.,  p.  78;  Bo.,  p.  30;  L.,  p.  4;  n'est-tupas — Humaine,- 
Bo.,  p.  7;  ni — De  la  par- esse,  Bo.,  p.  71;  6 — Si  tristes,  Am., 
p.  76;  qu'un — Dieu  fit,  O.,  p.  8;  a  la — L6vre  superieure,  E., 
p.  5;  car  elles — Avaient,  E.,  p.  49;  n' evince — Pas,  J.,  pp.  44, 
154;  font — Monter,  S.,  p.  Ill;  et  ce — M'a  necessairement,  E., 
p.  33. 

c.     Romantic  rythms. 

1.  Overflow  causes  Romantic  rythm.^ 

All  rythms  occurring  in  overflow  in  Verlaine  occur  in  L. 
de  Lisle.  The  following  occur  in  overflow:  444,  354,  453,  435, 
534,  264,  363,  462,  273. 

2.  Rythms  not  found  in  overflow.  2 

There  are  thirty- four  different  Romantic  rythms. 

20.     Use  of  Rythms.' 

According  to  Souza*,  there  are  three  characteristic  points 
to  be  noted  in  Verlaine's  use  of  rythm. 

1.  The  regularity  of  the  use  of  rythms. 

2.  The  relation  of  rythms  to  one  another. 

3.  The  harmony  of  rythmic  successions. 

L.  de  Lisle  and  de  Heredia  have  the  first  characteristic, 
as  we  have  seen  in  No.  1.;  L.  de  Lisle  also  shows  Nos.  2,  3 
occasionally. 

^  '  cf.  L.  de  Lisle. 

^cf.  statistics. 

*  Le  Ry  thm.e  poetique. 


—  51  — 

The  following  examples  are  taken  from  Souza;  these  could 
easily  be  multiplied. 

a.  The  three-time  movement  used  as  kind  of  responses, 
making  both  systems  dependent  one  upon  the  other: 

Nous  ne  sommes  plus  ceux  que  vous  auriez  cherches.  3342 

Mourez  a  nous,  mourez  aux  humbles  voeux  caches  444 

Que  nourrit  la  douceur  de  la  parole  forte,  3342 

Car  notre  coeur  n'est  plus  de  ceux  que  vous  cherchez.  444 
Sa.,  p.  49. 

b.  A  series  of  Classical  rythms  ending  by  a  Eomantic. 

Ne  t'ai-je  pas  aime,  jusqu'a  la  mort  moi-meme,  4242 

O  mon  fr6re  en  mon  P6re,  5  mon  fils  en  I'Esprit,  3333 

Et  n'ai-je  pas  souffert,  comme  c'etait  ecrit?  4242 

N'ai-je  pas  sanglote  ton  angoisse  supreme,  3333 

Et  n'ai-je  pas  sue  la  sueur  de  tes  nuits  4233 

Lamentable  ami  qui  me  cherches  ou  je  suis  534 
Sa.,  p.  73. 

c.  Three-  and  four-time  rythms  alternate  throughout  a 
sonnet : 

183—3333—354—4224 ;  444  _633— 3324— 2442 ; 
444—1533—354;  4233—354—426.  Sa.,  p.  78-79. 

d.  A  series  of  three-time  followed  by  a  series  of  four- 
time  rythms: 

264-444—354—264 4242—3333—4224 

Sa.,  p.  79,  11.  7-14. 

e.  When  Verlaine  uses  the  four-  or  three-time  movement 
exclusively,  he  shows  preference  for  one  rythm.  In  the  fol- 
lowing sixteen  lines,  ten  begin  with  a  four-cut: 

444,  444,  453,  444,-444,  4233,  4215,  444,-3342,  363,  48,  642, 
—2424,  426,  633,  2424.     Sa.,  p.  80-81, 11. 13-14, 1-6. 

In  the  following  eight  lines  there  are  four  354,  and  three 
444  rythms: 

354,  354,  444,  453,  354,  354,  444,  444.     Sa.,  p.  48-9. 

All  these  examples  are  taken  from  Sagesse;  examples  are 
plentiful  throughout  his  works. 


—  52  — 
Statistics  of  rytlims. 
L.  de  Lisle.  de  Heredia.        Coppee.      Prudhomme.      Verlaine. 


444=398 

56 

558 

23 

634 

354=322 

26 

528 

33 

378 

453  =  150 

23 

239 

13 

116 

264=133 

14 

186 

28 

93 

624=122 

16 

— 

— 

— 

246=108 

15 

— 

— 

1 

642=  73 

9 

— 

— 

4 

363=  58 

— 

127 

18 

46 

426=  57 

7 

— 

— 

2 

156=  45 

1 

— 

— 

— 

174=  39 

1 

41 

2 

8 

66=  36 

6 

— 

— 

2 

84=  28 

1 

12 

7 

21 

345=  26 

5 

39 

1 

36 

462=  24 

6 

36 

3 

29 

435=  24 

3 

43 

— 

77 

273=  16 

6 

53 

8 

16 

255=  14 

— 

22 

1 

17 

372=  11 

2 

10 

1 

11 

534=     8 

— 

6 

— 

51 

183=     3 

— 

10 

1 

3 

39=     3 

— 

5 

— 

2 

93=     3 

— 

4 

2 

7 

543=     3 

1 

2 

— 

29 

732=     2 

— 

— 

— 

1 

282=     2 

— 

2 

1 

3 

552=     1 

— 

1 

— 

5 

165=     1 

— 

7 

— 

— 

516=     1 

— 

— 

— 

— 

48=  — 

— 

21 

1 

10 

75=  — 

— 

2 

1 

8 

57=  — 

— 

1 

— 

6 

525=  — 

— 

— 

—  . 

2 

336=  — 

— 

— 

— 

1 

471=  — 

■  — 

— 

— 

1 

192=  — 

— 

— 

— 

1 

327=  — 

— 

— 

— 

1 

Total: 

1711=.07% 

198=. 07%. 

1954=.05%. 

144=.  008%. 

1622 =.08 

RESUME  AND  CONCLUSIONS. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  importance  in  the  history  of 
French  versification  of  the  five  poets  whose  works  have  been 
examined  in  this  sketch,  let  us  recall  the  principles  of  French 
verse  of  the  various  schools  of  poetry  that  have  been  evolved 
since  the  sixteenth  century.  Beginning  with  the  Classical 
school,  represented  by  Corneille,  Racine,  and  Moli^re,  and 
continuing  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  we  have  the 
following  rules  which  are  generally  observed: 

1.  French  verse  must  not  contain  more  than  twelve  syl- 
lables; the  mute  e  in  a  feminine  verse  not  being  counted  as  a 
syllable. 

2.  Each  verse  must  contain  a  complete  logical  sense,  and 
must  not  be  suspended  in  one  line  and  carried  over  to  the  next 
line;  when  this  takes  place,  we  have  overflow. 

3.  Each  twelve- syllable  line  must  be  divided  in  the  mid- 
dle by  a  complete  rest;  the  two  parts  into  which  the  twelve 
syllables  are  divided  are  called  hemistichs. 

4.  Each  hemistich  must  be  divided  into  two  parts,  but 
not  necessarily  even.  Every  verse,  then,  has  four  divisions, 
and  these  division^  admit  of  thirty- six  different  combinations 
or  rythms. 

5.  The  rime  must  be  sonorous,  natural  and  not  cherchee. 
These   five   rules   are   quite   faithfully   followed   by  the 

Classicists. 

Passing  now  to  the  next  school  of  poetry,  that  of  the 
Romanticists,  we  find  that  only  the  first  of  the  five  preceding 
rules  is  observed.  With  Andre^Cjaenier  begins  the  modern 
school  of  poetry;  in  the  technique  of  his  verse,  however,  there 
is  nothing  that  is  not  found  in  the  Classical  verse.  In  Victor 
Hugo's  poetry  we  find  a  new  verse-structure.  Instead  of 
dividing  each  verse  into  four  parts  on  a  four -time  movement, 
Victor  Hugo  divides  it  into  three  parts,  on  a  three-time  move- 
ment. Thus,  the  verse  3333  is  changed  to  444,  which  allows 
no  full  rest  at  the  hemistich,  but  a  half -rest  or  tonic  rest. 
This  rest,  however,  is  quite  audible  and  must  be  at  the  end  of 
a  word,  the  last  syllable  of  which  must  be  sonorous;  hence, 
not  a  mute  e. 


—  54  — 

The  next  change  is  in  regard  to  rime.  One  of  Victor 
Hugo's  innovations  in  the  drama  was  to  introduce  the  tragic 
and  comic  elements  together  with  the  grotesque  and  buffoon 
type,  in  order  to  bring  out  contrasts.  The  mixing  of  these 
two  opposite  elements  can  be  carried  to  the  form  of  verse,  and 
especially  to  rime.  Therefore  he  introduces  rimes  that  are 
cherchees,  often  ridiculous,  but  which  help  to  bring  out  a  con- 
trast or  an  antithesis.  Overflow  is  freely  indulged  in.  The 
Romanticists  thus  give  a  new  basis  to  the  structure  of 
verse. 

The  next  school  of  poetry  is  called  Parnassianism,  founded 
in  1865;  the  principal  members  of  which  were  Leconte  de  Lisle 
as  the  leader  and  master,  Coppee,  Prudhomme,  de  Heredia, 
and,  in  the  beginning,  Verlaine.  This  school  lasted  about  ten 
years  as  an  organized  body.  .  Through  an  examination  of  the 
works  of  these  five  poets,  considering  L.  de  Lisle  as  the  master, 
I  have  been  able  to  detect  four  distinct  manners  of  versifica- 
tion. This  examination  deals  only  with  verse  structure,  or  the 
technique  of  their  Alexandrine,  and  not  with  the  subject  mat- 
ter. The  rules  formed  by  the  Parnassians,  as  an  organized 
body,  and  those  practised  by  L.  de  Lisle,  their  master,  are 
quite  different.  The  Parnassians  observed  his  tendencies  and 
formulated  rigid  rules  according  to  these  tendencies  in  their 
enthusiasm  and  great  desire  to  equal  their  master.  They  ob- 
served these  rules  for  a  short  time  and  then  followed  their  own 
bent  for  writing  verses.  Thus,  de  Heredia  follows  the  tenden- 
cies of  L.  de  Lisle  very  closely,  hence  forms  a  style  of  versifi- 
cation; Prudhomme  reverts  to  the  Classicists,  observing  very 
closely  nearly  all  of  their  rules;  Coppee's  verses  show  a  much 
more  liberal,  freer  spirit  in  the  observance  of  metrical  laws 
than  those  of  de  Heredia  and  Prudhomme;  Verlaine  has  intro- 
duced all  innovations  possible  in  French  verse. 

The  following  rules  were  required  but  not  always  observed 
by  the  Parnassians: 

1.  Twelve  syllables  in  a  verse. 

2.  A  Classic  or  Romantic  rest  at  the  hemistich;  that  is, 
a  full  or  half- rest. 

3.  Rime-riche  above  all. 

4.  The  rime-word  must  be  important  and  sonorous,  hence 
an  adjective  followed  by  a  noun,  or  a  noun  by  an  adjective,  a 
preposition,  article  or  pronoun  must  not  form  the  rime -word. 


—  55  — 

5.  Effects  must  be  brought  out  in  the  use  of  four  and 
three-time  rythms. 

6.  Each  word  must  have  a  definite  number  of  syllables; 
thus,  hier  must  be  used  as  a  monosyllabic  or  dissyllabic  word. 
They  have  given  to  each  vowel  in  a  monosyllabic  or  dissyllabic 
word  a  definite  value.  ^  The  essential  difference,  then,  between 
the  Romanticists  and  Parnassians  is,  that  the  former  demanded 
more  freedom,  renouncing  the  rigid  laws  of  the  Classicists, 
while  the  latter  demanded  more  rigid  rules,  limiting  and  nar- 
rowing the  laws  of  their  predecessors,  and  thus  reverting  to 
Classical  tendencies  or  to  the  Classical  spirit.  It  is  a  striving 
for  more  freedom  on  the  ooe  side  and  a  demand  for  more 
rigorous  principles  on  the  other.  The  Symbolists  take  up 
again  the  cry  of  the  Romanticists  for  freedom,  but  they  in- 
dulge in  such  freedom  that  their  verses  are  no  longer  poetry, 
but  mere  prose. 

According  to  the  rules  of  the  Parnassians,  only  a  skillful 
manipulator  of  verses  could  be  a  great  poet,  and  a  mediocre 
rymster  and  inspired  genius  like  Lamartine  could  not  be 
classed  as  a  great  poet.  Each  one  of  the  poets  whose  works 
have  been  examined  in  this  sketch  soon  followed  his  own  bent. 
Of  these,  Verlaine  stands  alone  as  the  great  innovator,  and  by 
him  were  inspired  the  young  poets  who,  in  1885,  founded  the 
Decadent  and  Symbolistic  school. 

I  shall  now  consider  the  results  obtained  by  the  examina- 
tion of  the  works  of  L.  de  Lisle,  de  Heredia,  Coppee,  Prud- 
homme,  and  Verlaine,  in  order  to  show  how  they  differ  from 
one  another  in  the  application  of  the  rules  so  far  laid  down 
by  usage  and  by  the  diverse  schools  of  poetry,  to  show  what 
rules  of  versification  these  poets  violate,  what  changes  in  re- 
gard to  form  they  introduce. 

Rime  is  considered  under  sixteen  sub-heads.  The  first  is 
rime-riche. 

1.  Rime-riche  was  the  great  cry  of  the  Parnassians,  and 
they  used  rich  rime  more  than  any  school.  The  rules  relating 
to  rich  rime  are  all  violated  by  the  poets  examined,  except  the 
following:  before  a,  trouva,  u,  perdu,  ie,  charrie.  In  general, 
however,  all  except  Verlaine  use  rich  rime;  this  is  of  little 
importance,  because  sufficient  rime  answers  all  conditions  of 

1  of.  Banville,  de  Grammont. 


—  56  — 

verse.     To  make  an  exhaustive  examination  of  this  phase  of 
rime  would  be  out  of  the  sphere  of  this  monograph. 

2.  Masculine  and  feminine  rimes  with  same  assonance 
occur  in  nearly  all  poets,  but  not  very  often.  They  are  con- 
sidered faulty  by  critics  on  versification  for  the  reason  that 
they  destroy  the  force  of  the  rime  by  causing  confusion,  mak- 
ing it  difficult  for  the  ear  to  detect  the  rime;  besides,  four 
successive  identical  sounds  in  rime  cause  monotony/  In  L.  de 
Lisle  the  e — ee — e — ee  rimes  occur  rather  frequently;  de 
Heredia  avoids  them  entirely;  only  one  example  is  found  in 
Prudhomme;  in  Coppee  they  are  quite  frequent;  i — ie — i — ie 
occurs  six  times,  as  in  merci — ici — bijouterie — seigneurie.  Ver- 
laine  uses  both  kinds,  and  has  a  rime  in  aire — er,  as  in,  faire 
— vere — hiver — hier.  The  rule  forbidding  such  rimes  is  not 
of  great  importance,  but  is  observed  quite  generally. 

3.  The  Parnassians  posited  the  rule  that  a  voiced  and 
voiceless  s  must  not  serve  as  consonne  d'appui.  For  example, 
rasoir — du  soir  were  faulty  in  rime.  This  rule  is  of  no  im- 
portance, however,  because  such  words  give  sufficient  rime  and 
are  considered  perfectly  good  verses. 

4.  The  law  that  forbids  riming  words  whose  final  con- 
sonant s  is  pronounced  according  to  general  usage  with  words 
whose  final  s  is  not  pronounced,  is  violated  by  most  poets,  be- 
cause the  pronunciation  in  many  cases  is  not  fixed,  or  because 
there  are  two  pronunciations,  usually  an  old  and  a  ipQodern. 
Victor  Hugo  was  the  first  poet  to  make  a  practice  of  using 
such  words.  L.  de  Lisle' s  frequent  use  of  them  undoubtedly 
encouraged  his  disciples  in  the  use  of  them.  Such  words  as 
helas,  OS  are  pronounced  hela,  o,  and  helas,  os.  In  the  exam- 
ples it  will  be  seen  that  such  words  rime  with  words  whose 
final  s  is  pronounced  and  with  words  whose  final  s  is  never 
pronounced,  showing  that  the  poet  has  the  liberty  of  using 
both  pronunciations.  The  examples  are  interesting  to  show 
how  far  each  poet  goes  in  this  liberty.  L.  de  Lisle' s  words 
are  especially  confined  to  words  coming  from  the  Greek,  Latin 
and  Indian  languages.  The  variety  of  words  in  Coppee  is 
much  larger  than  in  the  other  poets. 

5.  Rime  must  be  pure,  therefore  words  with  a  short 
vowel  must  not  rime  with  words  whose  final  vowel  is  long, 


—  57  — 

In  L.  de  Lisle  there  are  three  examples: 

aromes — hommes;  trone — environne;  epaules — paroles. 

In  the  last  example  the  pronunciation  is  not  fixed.  In  de 
Heredia  we  find  one  example:  Suetone — festonne,  which  is  not 
faulty  because  the  pronunciation  of  foreign  words  is  vacillating. 
There  are  no  examples  in  Prudhomme  and  Verlaine.  Donne 
and  bonne  rime  with  aumone,  and  hommes  with  nomes  in 
Coppee.  Such  rimes  are  considered  very  faulty.  Leconte  de 
Lisle  has  been  considered  the  most  careful  and  purest  of 
modern  French  poets  in  regard  to  rime. 

6.  Rimes  in  short  and  long  assonanced  words  as,  peine — 
sienne,  can  hardly  be  called  faulty,  inasmuch  as  individual 
and  local  pronunciation  must  be  considered.  Some  French- 
men, especially  from  the  South,  give  a  very  open  sound  to 
such  words  as  sienne,  comprenne,  cesse,  so  that  they  rime  with 
the  naturally  open  sounds,  as  in  lointaines,  epaisse.  Coppee 
shows  a  greater  variety  of  such  rimes  than  the  other  poets. 

The  rime  Eden — jardin  is  not  a  good  one  according  to 
the  general  pronunciation. 

7.  Words  with  short  and  long  a,  as  in  femme — ame,  are 
found  in  all  poets.  In  some  of  the  examples  cited  pronuncia- 
tion varies,  and  no  definite  rule  can  be  posited.  Prudhomme 
shows  more  care  than  the  other  poets  in  regard  to  such  rimes. 

8.  Rimes  in  short  and  long  ^  e — e  depend  to  a  great 
extent  upon  individual  pronunciation.  Rimes  in  elle — ele, 
ette — 6te  or  aite  occur  frequently,  especially  in  Coppee,  who 
rimes  cigarette — faite,  Anglais — repousse-les;  sais  rimes  with 
open  long  ^,  acc^s,  and  close  short  e,  blesses.  Some  authori- 
ties on  versification  condemn  such  rimes. 

9.  Single  vowel  riming  with  a  diphthong  occurs  in  the 
best  poets.  There  are  really  no  diphthongs  in  modern  French. 
Such  rimes  as  feu — dieu  are  perfectly  correct;  but  raison — 
illusion  is  not,  as  the  ending  -ion  always  rimes  with  -ion,  never 
with  -on.  The  example  cited  is  the  only  one  found  in  these 
poets. 

10.  Rime- words  must  have  the  same  final  consonant; 
words  ending  in  t  may  rime  with  words  ending  in  d;  c — g  are 
permissible  in  some  cases. ^     In  L.  de  Lisle  I  find  pesant — 

1  cf .  p.  10. 


—  58  — 

sang,  descend — sang,  brulant — flanc,  Liban — banc,  heron — 
rond,  grandissait — Seth.  In  de  Heredia  I  find  camp — debar- 
quant,  aplomb — blond — long.  Coppee  shows  a  much  greater 
variety,  champ — arrachant,  quand — camp,  reprends — rang, 
Edinbourg — tambour,  long — plomb,  sang — flanc.  The  follow- 
ing rimes  cannot  be  considered  good :  a  la  Motte-Broon — un 
demon,  Yankee — manquee;  keepsake — disseque.  Prudhomme 
also  shows  much  freedom  in  using  such  rimes  as  coup — cou; 
nectar — tard,  horizon — front,  mechant — champ. 

Considering  these  four  poets  as  the  most  careful  of  modern 
French  rymsters,  it  seems  that  the  rules  for  final  consonants, 
rules  of  rime  for  the  ear  and  not  the  eye,  or  vice  versa,  rules 
for  final  s,  rules  for  pronunciation  of  short  and  long  o,  a,  e, 
are  not  at  all  fixed;  in  other  words,  these  rules  no  longer  hold, 
and  the  French  poet  enjoys  more  liberty  than  is  afforded  him 
by  the  treatises  of  versification.  French  poetry  loses  some  of 
its  artificial  or  too  technical  nature.  This  holds,  as  we  shall 
see,  especially  for  the  structure  of  the  verse. 

11-12.  There  are  very  few  examples  of  adjectives  and 
adverbs,  of  nouns  and  adjectives  in  rime  Bas,  roses  are  found 
in  L.  de  Lisle,  un  bloc  bas — pria  bas,  les  roses — ibis  roses. 
Such  rimes  are  very  seldom  resorted  to. 

13-16.  The  rules,  rime  must  not  occur  at  the  hemistiches 
nor  at  the  hemistich  and  rime-word,  are  not  often  violated  by 
poets.  There  are  some  270  cases  of  the  first  in  L.  de  Lisle,  or 
one  case  to  every  hundred  lines;  the  per  cent  is  the  same  in 
de  Heredia,  not  quite  as  high  in  Coppee.  In  Prudhomme 
there  are  only  eighty-five  cases  and  in  Verlaine  twenty-two; 
of  the  second  law  (14),  there  are  ninety-three  cases  in  L.  de 
Lisle,  twenty- four  in  Coppee,  twenty  in  Verlaine  and  four  in 
Prudhomme  and  de  Heredia.  The  following  table  will  show 
the  number  of  examples  found  violating  rules  13,  14,  15,  16: 


Rules 

13 

14 

15 

16 

Total. 

Per  cent 

L.  de  Lisle, 

270 

93 

100 

55 

518 

.02 

de  Heredia, 

55 

4 

22 

9 

.90 

.03 

Coppee, 

215 

24 

100 

24 

363 

.01 

Prudhomme, 

85 

4 

36 

3 

128 

.007 

Verlaine, 

22 

20 

14 

20 

76 

.003 

A  reason  for  the  comparative  few  examples  in  Verlaine  is 
the  fact  that  in  the  structure  of  the  verse  he  indulges  in  so 


—  so- 
many  liberties,  that  rimes  at  the  hemistiches  are  not  very  likely 
to  occur,  because  he  observes  no  hemistich;  whereas,  the  few 
cases  found  inPrudhomme  show  special  care  for  the  observance 
of  these  rules,  as  his  verses  are  nearly  all  Classical  Alexan- 
drines. 

17.  Unstressed  words  at  the  hemistich. 

The  Classicists  observed  the  law  very  rigidly  which  re- 
quires a  rest  at  the  sixth  syllable  or  hemistich.  The  Roman- 
ticists observed  the  rule  only  in  part,  the  word  which  ended  at 
the  hemistich  was  stressed  on  the  last  syllable.  /There  is, 
probably,  no  example  of  a  mute  e  at  the  hemistich  before  L. 
de  Lisle,  who  has  two  verses  with  mute  e  at  the  hemistich, 
which  is  considered  the  most  daring  and  most  destructive 
change  French  verse  can  suffer,  for  the  next  step  would  be  not 
to  observe  the  hemistich  at  all.  The  articles  le,  la,  de  and 
other  prepositions;  sa,  ta  and  other  unstressed  words,  are 
placed  at  the  hemistich  by  L.  de  Lisle.  In  Prudhomme  and 
(le  Heredia  these  are  not  found,  but  in  Coppee  there  are  thir- 
teen cases  of  mute  e  at  the  hemistich,  while  with  Verlaine  this 
becomes  a  common  occurrence.  Of  prepositions  I  find  parmi, 
avec,  autour  occasionally  in  the  verses  of  the  preceding  schools, 
and  they  are  found  in  Prudhomme  and  de  Heredia  also,  but 
with  the  exception  of  these  there  is  no  example  of  any  other 
preposition,  pronoun,  or  article  to  be  found  in  Prudhomme's 
poetry,  a  fact  which  places  him  among  the  pure  Classicists,  in- 
asmuch as  the  observance  of  this  law  characterizes,  more  than 
any  other  law  of  versification,  the  difference  between  modern 
and  classical  verse.  In  de  Heredia' s  poetry  I  find  one  case  of 
dans,  three  of  sous,  one  of  par,  one  of  un,  one  of  les,  three  of 
la.  De  Heredia  has  been  generally  considered  the  most  skill- 
ful and  careful  manipulator  of  modern  French  verse;  however, 
these  statistics  go  to  show  that  Prudhomme  exercises  much 
greater  care  in  the  structure  of  his  verse  than  de  Heredia. 
Technically,  we  find  no  influence  of  L.  de  Lisle  in  Prudhomme, 
but  in  de  Heredia  the  influence  is  marked  on  nearly  every  page. 
In  Coppee's  poetry  I  find  compound  words  at  the  hemistich, 
which  is  the  next  step  to  an  overflowing  hemistich. 

18.  I  have  found  only  one  case  of  pure  hiatus  in  Coppee 
— de  uhlans  This  rule  is  rigidly  observed  by  all  poets,  until 
we  come  to  Verlaine. 

Such  words  as  sang,  joug,  champ  should  not  be  followed 


—  60  — 

by  words  beginning  with  a  vowel,  as  sang  est,  champ  aride ; 
they  do  not  occ^r  often. 

19.  The  rule  of  overflow  may  be  violated  in  the  following 
manners:  1)  by  allowing  the  rime-word  to  form  liaison  with 
the  following  line,  or  by  ending  the  line  with  mute  e  and  be- 
ginning the  next  line  with  a  word  whose  first  letter  is  a  vowel; 
2)  by  placing  weak  or  unstressed  words  at  the  rime,  such  as  a 
noun  followed  by  the  adjective,  an  adjective  followed  by  the 
noun,  prepositions,  a  noun  or  adjective  followed  by  a  preposi- 
tion and  noun  or  adjective,  or  words  that  form  too  close  an 
overflow  so  as  to  lose  their  force  in  the  rime;  3)  overflow  may 
cause  the  next  line  to  lose  the  rest  at  the  hemistich,  which  is 
not  a  faulty  verse  unless  there  is  no  stress  whatever  on  the 
word  at  the  hemistich,  for  example,  when  a  mute  e  is  placed 
at  the  sixth  syllable.  Examples  under  No.  1  occur  occasion- 
ally, but  depend  greatly  upon  individual  reading;  examples 
under  No.  2  do  not  occur  often  in  Classic  or  Romantic  poetry, 
and  examples  under  No.  3  are  first  found  in  Victor  Hugo. 
The  following  tables  will  show  the  number  of  examples  found : 


1. 

Liaison. 

Mute 

e 

s 

t 

d 

n 

Total 

14 

12 

10 

— 

— 

36 

L.  de  Lisle 

1 

2 

1 

— 

— 

4 

de  Heredia 

1 

3 

7 

— 

— 

11 

Prudhomme 

9 

32 

41 

1 

— 

83 

Coppee 

— 

4 

11 

— 

1 

16 

Verlaine 

2. 

Unstressed  words  at 

rime. 

m  CO 

2'S 

t3 

es 

o 

a 
.2 

'% 

-C!  PI 

=1 
% 

tf  t.  P, 
O  P^O 

. 

21 

1 

4 

10 

36 

L.  de  Lisle 



2 



2 

— 

4 

de  Heredia 

-_ 

1 



— 

— 

1 

Prudhomme 

11 

12 



6 

34 

63 

Coppee 

25 

43 

30 

21 

3 

122 

Verlaine 

From  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  Coppee  shows  great 


—  61  — 

freedom  in  the  use  of  overflow,  and  that  Prudhomme's  verses 
are  nearly  perfect  in  regard  to  these  laws. 

3.     Romantic  rythm  in  overflow. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  L.  de  Lisle,  de  Heredia, 
Prudhomme  and  Coppee,  as  representatives  of  the  Parnassian 
tendencies,  do  not  employ  the  Romantic  system  with  any  fre- 
quency; L.  de  Lisle  and  de  Heredia  are  especially  looked  upon 
as  pure  Classicists  in  the  use  of  rythms.  An  examination  of 
their  verses  give  the  following  statistics: 

Per  cent. 

L.  de  Lisle,  about  20,000  verses,  1,700  Rom.  rythms,  or  .08 
de  Heredia,        "       2,800        "  197  "  .07 

Coppee,  "     35,000       "       1,950  "  .05 

Prudhomme,      ''      17,000        "  144  "  .008 

Verlaine,  "      20,000       "       1,624  "  .08 

The  table  shows  that  Prudhomme's  poetry  contains  Ro- 
mantic lines  very  rarely,  and  that  de  Lisle  and  de  Heredia  use 
the  four- time  system  as  often  as  Verlaine. 

The  statistics  for  the  use  of  overflow  are  as  follows: 

Per  cent. 

L.  de  Lisle,  3,260  cases  of  overflow,  225  irregular,  or  .069^ 

de  Heredia,       475      "  "            30          "               .06 

Coppee,          5,450      "  "          747          "               .13 

Prudhomme,  3,165      "  "            34          "               .01 

Verlaine,         1,500      "  "           153          "               .10 

These  cases  of  irregular  overflow  are  not  necessarily 
faulty,  because  overflow  can  cause  the  following  verse  to  follow 
the  Romantic  system  which  does  not  necessarily  violate  the 
law  of  hemistich.  The  following  statistics  show  the  number 
of  faulty  cases  of  overflow: 

L.  de  Lisle,  3,260  cases  of  overflow, 
de  Heredia,         475      " 

Coppee,  5,450      " 

Prudhomme,  3,165      " 

Verlaine,  1,500      " 

Thus  it  is  shown  that  de  Heredia  is  less  fortunate  in  his 
Romantic  rythms  than  the  other  poets  examined,  save  Verlaine. 
I  am  led  to  believe  by  my  examination  that  Prudhomme  inten- 


Per  cent. 

150  faulty. 

or  .04 

41       " 

.08 

310       " 

.05 

15       " 

.004 

153      " 

.10 

—  62  — 

tionally  avoids  the  use  of  Romantic  rythms,  especially  in  over- 
flow. The  use  of  overflow  followed  by  a  Romantic  rythm  is 
indeed  very  difficult,  because  this  overflow  leads  so  easily  to 
the  violation  of  the  law  of  the  hemistich  and  to  the  placing  of 
an  unstressed  word  at  the  rime.  The  five  preceding  tables  of 
statistics  prove  that  Prudhomme  violates  the  law  of  overflow 
less  frequently  than  any  other  one  of  the  poets  examined,  and 
the  correctness  of  his  verse  in  this  respect  is  duo  to  the  fact 
that  he  employs  the  Romantic  system  so  rarely.  His  tenden- 
cies are  entirely  Classical. 

The  following  statistics  show  the  number  of  Romantic 
rythms  used  and  the  number  of  varieties  of  rythms : 


L.  de  Lisle,  1,700  Romantic  rythms,  or  .07   % 
de  Heredia,       197         "  "  .07   % 

Coppee,  1,950         "  "  .05  % 

Prudhomme,     144         "  "  .008% 

Verlaine,         1,625         "  "  .08   % 


with  27  varieties 
"    18 
u    24       " 

"    17 

"    34       " 


It  would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  this  monograph  to  cite 
the  examples  of  all  cases  of  overflow  and  Romantic  rythms; 
the  statistics  have  been  obtained  by  an  examination  of  each 
line  of  verse  of  the  five  poets  with  whom  this  monograph  deals. 

20.  In  the  use  of  rythms  I  can  detect  an  intentional  use 
of  any  definite  or  regular  combination  or  series  of  rythms  only 
in  L.  de  Lisle,  de  Heredia,  and  Verlaine. 

I  have  thus  far  given  the  results  of  my  examination  of  the 
verses  of  L.  de  Lisle,  de  Heredia,  Prudhomme,  Coppee,  and 
Verlaine,  showing  which  of  the  rules,  as  laid  down  by  the 
Classicists,  Romanticists,  and  Parnassians  have  been  violated 
and  the  extent  of  this  violation.  De  Heredia  follows  L.  de 
Lisle  very  closely;  Prudhomme  holds  very  rigidly  to  the  rules 
of  the  Classicists  and,  as  the  statistics  indicate,  shows  less  faulty 
verses  than  any  other  poet  examined.  ,|r  Coppee  seems  to  form 
a  transition  from  the  pure  and  rigid  tendencies  of  the  Parnas- 
sians to  the  theories  of  the  Symbolists,  represented  by  Verlaine, 
who  began  to  write  under  the  Parnassian  influences,  but  soon 
followed  his  own  bent.  He  has  introduced  so  many  changes 
into  French  verse  that  I  have  given  him  a  separate  treatment 
in  order  to  make  clear  these  changes.  To  appreciate  these  in- 
novations in  verse  by  Verlaine,  I  give  a  resume  of  the  results 


—  63  — 

drawn  from  the  examination  of  the  verses  of  L.  de  Lisle,  de 
Heredia,  Prudhomme  and  Coppee. 

1.  Each  verse  has  twelve  syllables. 

2.  Overflow  is  indulged  in  frequently;  we  find  violations 
of  the  law  of  liaison  and  of  faulty  rime-words  in  overflow. 

3.  Pause  at  the  hemistich  is  generally  found.  The  most 
serious  fault  or  defect  is  the  example  showing  mute  e  at  the 
sixth  syllable.  Prepositions,  adverbs,  pronouns,  and  articles 
are  found  occasionally,  rarely  in  the  Eomantic  school  and 
scarcely  ever  in  Classical  poetry.  The  numerous  violations  of 
the  law  of  the  hemistich,  then,  is  comparatively  new  and  rare 
in  French  verse  before  the  Parnassian  School  of  poetry. 

4.  The  Classical  and  Komantic  systems  are  held  separate, 
with  few  exceptions. 

5.  Rime  is  usually  rich. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  Symbolists,  we  shall  find  that  they 
ignore  all  the  laws  we  have  examined,  changing  the  very 
basis  and  nature  of  French  verse.  Inasmuch  as  Verlaine  is 
their  great  leader  and  master,  and  as  all  changes  possible  in 
French  verse  are  found  in  his  poetry,  I  have  examined  his 
verses  as  representing  the  theories  of  Symbolism;  it  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that  Verlaine's  poetry  contains  enough 
regular  verses  to  preserve  the  character  and  nature  of  the 
Alexandrine.  His  innovations  occur,  only  now  and  then, 
whereas  his  followers  make  rules  of  his  innovations  and  excep- 
tions of  the  standard  laws.  The  following  are  the  innovations 
in  versification  of  Verlaine : 

Rime. 

1.  Rimes  for  the  ear  ooly:  a.  Masculine  and  feminine 
rimes. 

C'est  le  chien  de  Jean  de  Nevelle 
Qui  mord  sous  I'oeil  meme  du  guet 
Le  chat  de  la  M6re  Michel; 
Franyois-les-bas-bleus  s'en  egaie.     R.,  p.  10-11. 

h.     Words  in  the  singular  and  plural. 

Telles,  sur  le  balcon,  revaient  les  jeunes  femmes. 
Emphatique  comme  un  tr6ne  de  melodrame.     P.,  p.  8. 


—  64  — 

2.  Use  of  identical  words  in  rime. 

Je  vous  atteste,  soeurs  aimables  de  mon  corps, 

A  cause  de  cette  faiblesse,  fleur  du  corps,     P.,  p.  83. 

3.  Unstressed  words  at  the  rime,  such  as  prepositions^ 
articles,  pronouns,  etc. 

De  derriere  chez  nous,  tous  ces  lourds  joyaux  sur     Sa.,  p.  127. 
Grace  a  ton  visage  enf antin  et  grace  a  la.     E. ,  p.  5. 

4.  Prepositions,  nouns   followed  by  the  adjectives  de- 
pendant upon  them,  at  the  end  of  a  stanza: 

Ou  tout  a  coup  partie  en  guerre  comme  pour — Tout  casser. 

Bo.,  p.  90. 
Et  dont,  fils  pieux,  nous  baisons  le  front  de  reine — 
Captive De.,  p.  209. 

5.  Mere  assonance. 

Presque  de  drapeau  rouge 

Qu'on  voit  sur  votre  bouche.     De.,  p.  154. 

6.  Overflowing  rime. 

Voyez  de  Banville,  et  voyez  Lecon — 

Te  de  Lisle De.,  p.  24. 

Numbers  5,  6,  however,  do  not  occur  in  the  Alexandrine 


7.  Hiatus. 

Viv^.oui,  n'est  ce  pas,  vienne  cett^existence.     L.,  p.  38. 

8.  The  popular  forms  t'es,  t'as,  found  in  popular  and  old 
French  poetry. 

T'es  b6te,  quand  je  ris,  tu  geins,  toi,  t'as  du  vague.     Li.,  p.  9t 

9.  Mute  e  on  the  seventh  syllable. 

Brouille  I'espoir  que  vot?'e  voix  me  re  vela.     Sa.,  p.  82. 

10.  Frequent  occurrence  of  mute  e  at  the  hemistich. 
En  louant  Dieu,  comme  Gars,  de  toutes  choses!     Sa.,  p.  26* 

11.  Mute  e  not  counted  but  written. 

J'entends  encore,  je  vois  encor!  Loi  du  devoir.     Sa,,  p.  46w 


—  65  — 

12.  Mute  e  counted  in  hiatus. 

Totre  ample  expansion  ceux  forts  que  fallait.     De.,  p.  174. 

13.  Overflowing  hemistich. 

a.  On  the  first  syllable  of  the  word. 

Puis  franchement  et  simplement  viens  a  ma  table.     Sa.,  p.  79. 

b.  On  the  second  syllable. 

Avec  du  sang  deshonore  d'encre  a  leurs  mains.     Sa.,  p.  11. 

c.  On  the  third  syllable. 

Et  quel  que  responsabilite  d'Empereur.     Am.,  p.  114. 

d.  On  the  fourth  syllable. 

Vers  les  declamations  par  la  Pauvrete.     Bo.,  p.  109. 

e.  On  the  fifth  syllable. 

Et  I'insatiabilite  de  leur  desir.     P.,  p.  106. 

14.  Disregard  for  number  of  syllables  in  a  verse. 

a.  Insertion  of  an  eleven-,  twelve-,  or  thirteen- syllable 
verse  in  a  sonnet  or  poem.     Am.,  p.  13. 

b.  A  sonnet  containing  lines  of  ten,  eleven,  twelve,  thir- 
teen, and  fourteen  syllables.     De.,  p.  225-6. 

15.  Conscious  and  systematic  use  of  Kom antic,  and  Ro- 
mantic and  Classic  rythms  in  series  for  effect.     P.,  pp.  81-85. 

These  innovations  give  the  poet  absolute  freedom  in  re- 
gard to  overflow,  rime- words,  hemistich,  and  rythm,  in  short, 
absolute  freedom  in  the  structure  of  the  Alexandrine.  As 
these  innovations  are  used  almost  exclusively  by  the  Symbolists 
and  Decadents,  their  verses  show  no  vestige  of  the  regular 
Classical  French  Alexandrine. 

In  this  short  sketch  I  have  endeavored  to  trace  the  prin- 
ciples of  French  versification  through  the  various  schools  of 
poetry,  the  Classic,  Romantic,  Parnassian,  and  Symbolistic, 
and  to  give  the  reasons  why  each  school  broke  away  from  the 
preceding  school  and  founded  laws  of  verse  suitable  to  its  taste. 
I  have  shown  that  the  last  school  of  poetry.  Symbolism,  shows 
no  vestige  of  the  laws  required  for  writing  poetry  by  the  pre- 


—  66  — 

ceding  schools,  and  have  examined  the  complete  poetic  works 
of  L.  de  Lisle,  de  Heredia,  Coppee,  and  Prudhomme,  repre- 
senting the  Parnassian  tendencies  in  verse,  and  of  Verlaine^ 
the  representative  of  Symbolism. 


BIBLIOGKAPHY/ 

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theoriciens,  Belin,  1898. 
Banville,  Theodore  de— Petit  traite  de  poesie  franyaise,  Char- 

pentier,  1879. 
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Perrin,  1898. 
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sur  la  rime  fran9aise,  Mulot,  1876. 
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pontes  decadents,  1893,  1896. 
Bremont,  L. — Le  theatre  et  la  poesie.  Revue  dramatique  et 

musicale,  1896. 
Doumic,  Rene— Etudes  sur  la  litterature  fran9.     (La  question 

du  vers  libre).     Perrin,  1898. 
Eichtal,  Eugene  de — Du  rythme  dans  la  versification  fran9aise, 

Lemerre,  1892. 
Fouqui^res,  Becq  de — Traite  general  de  versification  fran9aise, 

Charpentier,  1879. 
FothjK. — Die  Franz(3sische  Metrik  fiir  Lehrer  und  Studierende 

in  ihren  Grundziigen  dargestellt,  Berlin,  1879. 
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Masson,  1893. 
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1897.  "^ 

LeGoffic — Nouveau  traite  de  versification  fran9  ,  Masson,  1893. 
Gropp — Abriss  der  Franz5sischen  Verslehre,  Leipzig,  1886. 
Johanesson — Zur  Lehre  vom  FranzOsischen  Reim,  Progr.  du 

Gymnase  real  Andrius  de  Berlin,  1896. 
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rythmes,  Bouillon,  1889. 
Kahn,  Felix — Les  Palais  Nomades  (Preface  sur  Le  vers  libre),. 

Tresse  et  Stock,  1887. 
Kressner,      — Leitfaden  der  Franz.  Metrik,  Leipzig,  1880. 
Lubarsch,  E.  O. — Franzosische  Verslehre,  Weidmansche  Buch- 

handlung,  Berlin,  1879. 

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Mend,       — Die  Aussprache  des  Franz,  unbetonten  e  im  Wort- 

auslaut,  Zurich,  1889. 
M5llmann,  J. — Der  homonyme  Reim  im  Franzosischen,  Dis- 
sertation de  Miinster,  Leipzig,  Fock,  1882. 
Miiller,  Ed. — Ueber  accentuirend-metrische  Verse  in  derFran- 
z5sischen  Sprache  des  XVI-XIX  Jahrhundert,  1882,  Bonn. 
^J  Pellissier,   G. — Traite   theorique  et   histoire   de  versification 
fran9.,  Garnier,  1892. 
Pellissier,    G. — Essais   sur   la    litt.    contemp.,    pp.    111-159, 

Hachette,  1894 
Pierson,  P. — Metrique  Naturelle  du  langage,  Vieweg,  1884. 
Prudhomme,  Sully — Reflexions  sur  I'art  des  vers,  Lemerre. 
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fran9.,  Garnier,  1883. 
Rosieres,   Raoul — Recherches   sur   la   poesie   contemporaine, 
Laisney,  1896. 
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Y  Souza,  R.  de — Le  rythme  poetique,  Perrin,  1882. 

"  "     — Le  rythme  dans  la  poesie  fran9.,  Perrin. 

"  "     — La  valeur  reelle  des  syllabes,  Perrin,  1893. 

Stengel,  Edmund — Romanische  Verslehre,  Grober's  Grundrisz 
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Bernaux  et  Cumin,  Lyon,  1893. 
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PEEIODICALS, 

La  Revue  Bleue — La  question  de  I'art  pour  I'arfc,  Vol.  XL,  pp. 

271-79;  297-303;  364-371;  398-405.   Lapoesienouvelle: 

Les  vers  f  ran9ai8  et  les  poetes  decadents,  Vol.  XL VII,  pp. 

721-27;  422-36.     La  po^sie  decadente,  Vol.  XLV,  pp. 

246-48      Histoire   d'une   ancienne   ^cole   litteraire,  Vol. 

XL VIII,  pp.  483-90.     Symoolistes  et  decadents  d'autre- 

fois,  17  Oct.,  1891.     La  Poesie  nouvelle,  a  propos  de  de- 
cadents et  symbolistes,  4  April,  1891. 
La  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes — Le  symbolisme  contemp.,  1  April, 

1891.     La  question  du  vers  libre,  15  July,  1897.     Qu'est- 

ce  que  la  Poesie,  1  Oct.,  1897. 
La  Nouvelle  Revue — Symbolistes  et  Decadents,  Vol.  XLIX, 

p.  123;  LXIII,  p.  310;  LXXIV,  p.  765. 
La  Revue  Eucyclopedique — Les  Symbolistes,  Vol.  II,  p.  474; 

III,  p.  2.     Verlaine:  opinion  sur  la  litt.  et  la  poesie  con- 
temp.,  15  Oct.  1894. 
Revue  de  Paris— La  Syntaxe  et  le  style,  1  May,  1897,     La 

poesie  vivante,  15  Oct.,  1897. 
Franco- Gallia— Metrik  der  Franz.  Sprache,  XI,  6,  1894. 
Revue  de  philologie  frany.  et  provenyale — Un  projet  de  reforme 

de  la  versification  fran9.,  1894,  I.     La  Prononciation  de 

Ve  muet,  1894,  II. 
Zeitschrift  fiir  Rom.  Sprache  und  Lit. — Zur  Geschichte  der 

"Vers  libres''  in  der  Neufranz.  Poesie,  XII,  pp.  89-125. 

XIII,  p.  118;  XIV,  p.  236. 
Zeitschrift  der  Rom.  Philol. — Die  Bedeutung  des  Accents  im 

Franz.  Verse,  IX,  p.  268. 
Skandin.  Archiv — Wuliff,  Von  der  Rolle  des  Akzentes  in  der 

Versbildung,  1892. 
Publications  of   the  Modern  Language  Ass. — Marcou.     The 

origin  of  the  rule  forbidding  hiatus  in  French  verse.    XI,  3. 


POETIC  WOEKS  EXAMINED.^ 

Leconte  de  Lisle. 

Po^mes  Antiques,  A.,  1880, 16  mo.  Po6mes.Barbares,  B., 
1881,  16  mo.  Podmes  Tragiques,  T.,  1884,  8  mo.  Derniers 
Po6mes,  D.,  1895,  8  mo. 

Jose- Maria  de  Heredia. 

Les  Trophies,  1892,  12  mo. 

Fran9oi8  Copp^e. 

Theatre,  1869-1872,  1, 1872,  16  mo.;  1872-1878,  2,  1882, 
16  mo.;  1872-1881,  3,  1882,  16  mo.;  1881-1885,  4,  1886,  16 
mo.  Pour  la  Couronne,  4^  1895,  12  mo.  Poesies,  1864-1869, 
5,  1881,  16  mo.;  1869-1874,  6,  1880,  16  mo.;  1874-1878,  7, 
1880,  16  mo.;  1878-1886,  8,  1887,  16  mo.;  1886-1890,  9, 
1891,  16  mo. 

Sully  Prudhomme. 

Poesies,  1865-1866,  1,  1882,  16  mo.;  1866-1872,  2, 1882, 
16  mo.;  1872-1878,  3,  1879,  16  mo.;  1878-1879,  4,  1880,  16 
mo.,  1879-1888,  5,  1888,  16  mo. 

Paul  Verlaine. 

Po^mes  Saturniens,  S.,  1894, 12  mo.  Les  Fetes  Gal  antes, 
F.,  1896,  12  mo.  La  Bonne  Chanson,  Ch.,  1891,  12  mo. 
Sagesse,  Sa.,  1893,  12  mo.  Jadis  et  Nagudre,  J.,  1891, 12  mo. 
Romances  sans  Paroles,  R.,  1891,  12  mo.  Amour,  Am.,  1892, 
12  mo.  Parall^lement,  P.,  1894,  12  mo.  Dedicaces,  De., 
1894, 12  mo.  Chansons  pour  Elle,  C,  1891, 12  mo.  Bonheur, 
Bo.,  1891,  12  mo.  Elegies,  E.,  1893,  12  mo.  Odes  en  son 
Honneur,  1893,  12  mo.  Liturgies,  L.,  1893,  12  mo.  Dans  les 
Limbes,  Li.,  1894,  12  mo.  Epigrammes,  Ep.,  1894,  Biblio- 
thdque  Artistique  et  Litteraire,  12  mo. 

VAU  works  are  published  by  Lemerre,  except  Verlaine's  works 
which  are  published  by  Vanier.  The  abbreviations  will  be  found 
after  each  work.  The  dates  refer  to  the  editions  used,  not  to  the 
first  appearance. 


PERIODICALS. 

La  Revue  Bleue — La  question  de  Tart  pour  Tart,  Vol.  XL,  pp. 

271-79;  297-303;  364-371;  398-405.   Lapoesieuouvelle: 

Lea  vers  f  ran9ai8  et  les  poetes  decadents,  Vol.  XL VII,  pp. 

721-27;  422-86.     La  poesie  decadente,  Vol.  XLV,  pp. 

246-48      Histoire   d'une   ancienne   ecole   litteraire,  Vol. 

XL VIII,  pp.  483-90.     Symoolistes  et  decadents  d'autre- 

fois,  17  Oct.,  1891.     La  Poesie  nouvelle,  a  propos  de  de- 
cadents et  symbolistes,  4  April,  1891. 
La  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes — Le  symbolisme  contemp.,  1  April, 

1891.     La  question  du  vers  libre,  15  July,  1897.     Qu'est- 

ce  que  la  Poesie,  1  Oct.,  1897. 
La  Nouvelle  Revue — Symbolistes  et  Decadents,  Vol.  XLIX, 

p.  123;  LXIII,  p.  310;  LXXIV,  p.  765. 
La  I^evue  Eucyclopedique — Les  Symbolistes,  Vol.  II,  p.  474; 

III,  p.  2.     Verlaine:  opinion  sur  la  litt.  et  la  poesie  con- 
temp.,  15  Oct.  1894. 
Revue  de  Paris — La  Syntaxe  et  le  style,  1  May,  1897,     La 

poesie  vivante,  15  Oct.,  1897. 
Franco  Gallia— Metrik  der  Franz,  Sprache,  XI,  6,  1894. 
Revue  de  philologie  frany.  et  provenyale — Un  projet  de  reforme 

de  la  versification  frany.,  1894,  I.     La  Prononciation  de 

I'e  muet,  1894,  IL 
Zeitschrift  fUr  Rom.  Sprache  und  Lit. — Zur  Geschichte  der 

"Vers  libres''  in  der  Neufranz.  Poesie,  XII,  pp.  89-125. 

XIII,  p.  118;  XIV,  p.  236. 
Zeitschrift  der  Rom.  Philol. — Die  Bedeutung  des  Accents  im 

Franz.  Verse,  IX,  p.  268. 
Skandin.  Archiv — Wulff,  Von  der  RoUe  des  Akzentes  in  der 

Versbildung,  1892. 
Publications  of   the  Modern  Language  Ass. — Marcou.     The 

origin  of  the  rule  forbidding  hiatus  in  French  verse.    XI,  3. 


POETIC  WORKS  EXAMINED.' 

Leconte  de  Lisle. 

Po^mes  Antiques,  A.,  1880, 16  mo.  Po^mes  Barbares,  B., 
1881,  16  mo.  Podmes  Tragiques,  T.,  1884,  8  mo.  Derniers 
Po^mes,  D.J  1895,  8  mo. 

Jose- Maria  de  Heredia. 

Les  Trophies,  1892,  12  mo. 

Fran9ois  Copp^e. 

Theatre,  1869-1872, 1, 1872, 16  mo.;  1872-1878,  2, 1882, 
16  mo.;  1872-1881,  3,  1882,  16  mo.;  1881-1885,  4,  1886,  16 
mo.  Pour  la  Couronne,  4",  1895,  12  mo.  Poesies,  1864-1869, 
5,  1881,  16  mo.;  1869-1874,  6,  1880,  16  mo.;  1874-1878,  7, 
1880,  16  mo.;  1878-1886,  8,  1887,  16  mo.;  1886-1890,  9, 
1891,  16  mo. 

Sully  Prudhomme. 

Poesies,  1865-1866,  1,  1882,  16  mo.;  1866-1872,  2, 1882, 
16  mo.;  1872-1878,  3,  1879,  16  mo.;  1878-1879,  4,  1880,  16 
mo.,  1879-1888,  5,  1888,  16  mo. 

Paul  Verlaine. 

Po^mes  Saturniens,  S.,  1894, 12  mo.  Les  Fetes  Galantes, 
F.,  1896,  12  mo.  La  Bonne  Chanson,  Ch.,  1891,  12  mo. 
Sagesse,  Sa.,  1893,  12  mo.  Jadis  et  Nagu^re,  J.,  1891, 12  mo. 
Romances  sans  Paroles,  R.,  1891,  12  mo.  Amour,  Am.,  1892, 
12  mo.  Parallel ement,  P.,  1894,  12  mo.  Dedicaces,  De., 
1894, 12  mo.  Chansons  pour  EUe,  C,  1891, 12  mo.  Bonheur, 
Bo.,  1891,  12  mo.  Elegies,  E.,  1893,  12  mo.  Odes  en  son 
Honneur,  1893,  12  mo.  Liturgies,  L.,  1893,  12  mo.  Dans  les 
Limbes,  Li.,  1894,  12  mo.  Epigrammes,  Ep.,  1894,  Biblio- 
th^que  Artistique  et  Litteraire,  12  mo. 

*  All  works  are  published  by  Lemerre,  except  Verlaine's  works 
which  are  published  by  Vanier.  The  abbreviations  will  be  found 
after  each  work.  The  dates  refer  to  the  editions  used,  not  to  the 
first  appearance. 


BIOGRAPHY. 

The  author  of  this  monograph  was  born  in  1870  at  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana.  In  1890  he  entered  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, where  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in 
1893.  The  following  year  he  spent  at  the  same  institution  as 
a  graduate  student  of  Romance  Languages.  From  May,  1894, 
to  September,  1895,  he  studied  in  Paris  and  Berlin.  The  years 
1895-1897  he  spent  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  as  stu- 
dent, and  assistant  in  French  literature,  delivering  one  course 
of  lectures  on  the  development  of  French  poetry  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  and  one  course  on  the  Romantic  and  Parnas- 
sian schools  of  poetry. 


BIOGEAPHY. 

The  author  of  this  monograph  was  born  in  1870  at  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana.  In  1890  he  entered  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
verpity,  where  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in 
1893.  The  following  year  he  spent  at  the  same  institution  as 
a  graduate  student  of  Romance  Languages.  From  May,  1894, 
to  September,  1895,  he  studied  in  Paris  and  Berlin.  The  years 
1895-1897  he  spent  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  as  stu- 
dent, and  assistant  in  French  literature,  delivering  one  course 
of  lectures  on  the  development  of  French  poetry  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  and  one  course  on  the  Romantic  and  Parnas- 
sian schools  of  poetry. 


Vi,^}^~50m-4  '59 
(Al724sl0)476B 


General  Library 


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